Why does it STILL take so long for my computer to shutdown?

I have a Dell laptop (Inspiron 1100) that was running fine up until about a month ago and then all of a sudden it started taking 4-5 minutes to shutdown completely. I went and cleared out all non-essential startup processes (through msconfig) and got rid of a bunch of unused/rarely used programs. I defrag the hard drive every day and there is plenty of space on it. I have up to date anti-virus and I run ad-aware and registry mechanic regularly. Finally, I noticed that if I shutdown the computer after booting without running any programs, it shuts down like normal but once I run any number of programs (Firefox OR iTunes OR Explorer for example) it then bogs down on shutdown. Any ideas?

Answers:
My guess is, there are threads running that are having trouble terminating.
They are not affected by changing the startup, because they are triggered by use of the programs you mention.
Try running only ONE of the potential offending programs, then shut down. See if your shutdown time is affected by that program. Continue this with each program, until you identify the culprit.

Try this:
Turn on your computer, open Task Manager (start...run..taskmgr or rightclick taskbar or Ctrl-Alt-Del) and look at the Processes tab. Click the User Name heading until the top listings are associated with your Username. Check out the list under Image Name. These are the program running in the background. If you see things that you dont need running (FOR SURE, DONT GUESS) then click them and End Process. Once you know the program that is causing you issues, you can terminate its processes here, before shutting down.

Also consider,
Do you have Clear Pagefile on Shutdown enabled.
Turn it off:
Start Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:

[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet... Manager\Memory Management]

Set ClearPageFileAtShutdown value to 0

Or, using Group Policy Editor [for Windows XP Professional]

Click Start, Run and type Secpol.msc
Click Local Policies | Security Options
In the right-pane, set Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile to Disabled

Also try:
In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, disable the Nvidia Driver Helper service (known issue)

Also try:
In Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services, disable the Terminal Services
(NOTE: Terminal Services are required if you use Fast User Switching, Remote Desktop, or Remote Assistance)
I have no idea, but I have the same computer and mine does the same exact thing. Sometimes it is even longer than 4-5 minutes.
well what i would suggest is to defragment your computer by going to Computer>C:/>right click it and click properties then go to the tools Tab> then Defragment Now.

That will try to cut out stuff you don't need and make files faster to close and open. Hope that helps.
Whenever the computer shut down, it will clear its cache first. If your programs are running (either onscreen or background) while you try to shut down, it will take longer.

I suggest you runs your programs first, then close all windows and bring up Task Manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and look for processes. If you find any unfamiliar process running under "your user name" like something with ALL CAPS, or duplicate extension (cmdexe.exe), it means your computer is infected with virus or spyware. Try to re-scan your computer after you close all these process.

Hope that helps.

The answers post by the user, for information only, RunQA.com does not guarantee the right.


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