Win 7 handles "not responding" worse than XP

I have a new machine with the "latest and greatest" hardware including core i7 quad CPU and 12 GB RAM running WIn 7 Ultimate 64 bit OS. Microsoft always advertise that the latest edition of their OS is better than the last at startup, etc, etc, etc. I use Adobe CS4 Master Suite and am having trouble with some programs. (I am not blaming Microsoft for that as Adobe have their own share of bugs). Occasionally the software freezes and if I try to cancel I then get the opaque screen and "not responding" and windows then gives up on me. I try bringing up the task manager (as in XP) but it refuses to appear and the whole PC is left in limbo. The only method I have found to get the machine back is to hit reset and reboot the PC.

Why didn't I just but XP 64 bit and leave Win 7 alone for a couple of years til they got it sorted.

When I get this "not responding" message, I just click the cancel button.
Then the program works again

hahaha, I don't know if I'm lucky or this is normal. But yea, when I click cancel... The program goes back to normal and is'nt frozen any longer. Kinda funny :P