I'd been having slowness and music-stuttering issues under Win7, even with Preveder's launcher. This morning, I ran Eador after Steam failed to start and the game ran smoothly.

I don't know if this is an issue unique to me or if there's some conflict between Eador and Steam that accounts for the performance difference. I am curious whether other people having these problems under Win7 find that exiting Steam clears them up.