As Windows 7 is getting closer to its launch day, more and more eyes are turning towards it. Compatibility, security or stability issues are hunted down by Microsoft and testers around the world, so that none slips in the final version. One possible bug has been recently spotted, labeled as “major” by its finder or “critical” by other voices, and it is said to be capable of altering the launch of the client.

Ryan Price details the bug on his blog: “this particular issue looks strangely out of place and makes you wonder how exactly this passed through validation:
To Reproduce:
1. Run an elevated CMD prompt
2. Run CHKDSK <drive letter:> /r
3. With task manager open, you should see your memory quickly gobbled away in the chkdsk.exe process until it either stops at or around 90% or it maxes completely out and crashes the computer.”

According to Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky, who comments on the story, this is not a bug; Windows 7 has been designed to react this way. Indeed, the high memory usage is there, but it is so for the process to be performed faster. Basically, the idea is that, if a disk needs to be checked and fixed, it means that there is a problem with it and users would like to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, and not to continue working on their computer while the checking is performed.

“While we appreciate the drama of “critical bug” and then the pickup of “showstopper” that I’ve seen, we might take a step back and realize that this might not have that defcon level. Bugs that are so severe as to require immediate patches and attention would have to have no workarounds and would generally be such that a large set of people would run across them in the normal course of using their PC. We appreciate the kind words that such a bug as above is “out of place” with Windows 7–we’re working hard. We are certainly going to continue to look for, monitor, and address issues as they arise if required. So far this is not one of those issues,” is what Sinofsky states.

For what it's worth, others have tried to reproduce the bug as well, and they also report that the memory usage goes up to the sky. Even so, it seems that the system does not crash and other programs can also be used when the checking is performed. For the time being, Microsoft hasn't confirmed whether a blue screen might appear or not, though Sinofsky says the company will look into it. In case this is indeed a bug the client has, the software giant will certainly come up fit a patch for it in the near future, just to make sure that all goes well when the OS reaches consumers in October.