Windows 7: Dreamscene causes explorer to slowly crash in Windows 7 Ultimate x64

So I downloaded the DreamsceneSeven.exe and some mpg's & wmv's to get started. I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on my Alienware m17x-R2 (so I know I've got enough CPU & GPU to run dreamscene). Without a dreamscene running, explorer will run 0%-1% CPU (80'000 KB) and works flawlessly. Then when I start a dreamscene explorer will jump to 10% CPU with 150'000 KB memory and both the CPU and memory will increase until about 30% and explorer crashes. The dreamscene continues to play with no stuttering and no other indications of problems. The CPU and Memory continue to rise even if I pause the dreamscene. It only recovers if I set a normal pic and the desktop background. I've tried uninstalling DreamsceneSeven and installing other dreamscene.dll's and registry files with no change. I've also tried to set FFDShow as the preferred codec for MPG and WMV but still no resolve. Any ideas?