I tried Windows Vista for a week, loved the new Explorer, loved the new visuals and animations, hated the crashes and Explorer would lock up a lot.

A while back, a few bloggers talked about how much faster and better Windows Server 2008 was than Windows Vista; so I figured I would give Server 2008 a shot.  A quick Google search turned up www.Win2008Workstation.com. I followed the guides on that site, and I now have a desktop which looks like Vista, but performs much faster, and I get MUCH fewer lockups of Windows Explorer.

I did have to set DEP to "Essential Windows programs and services only" otherwise some games and programs wouldn't install.  But other than that, its been a great experience! Way to go Windows Server 2008 team!