Why does my machine take forever to shut down?

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hello
once i stop all programs and shut down its say windows is shutting down, then i hear a sound which means windows has shutdown (nomally in 5 seconds after that the systems should go of but it who not, it can stay that way for over 20min unit i put out the power it just says windows is shuting down) thanks for the svchost.exe i was almost going to pull it out.

You didn't indicate which version of Windows you're running. I've seen what you describe (hanging after the shutdown sound) as typically being caused by misbehaving device drivers. Best advice I have right now is simply to make sure everything is up to date.

Leo

Hi leo
I'm running xp pro.
When I try to close yahoo programs,
Still running, after I closed it,
I end up using ctrl alt del.
to close this program,

plese can you help ?
Thanks
Jim

I am intrested in finding out how you solved the problem of computer not shutting down.Also why my cursor hangs up.I am running Windows 98se on a Compaq Presario.

It's an extremely frustrating experience! Is it better to shut down/reboot frequently? If so, how frequently. I suspect Bill Gates and his friends are at the back of this. I use my PC all the time. On the other hand...
...my personal recommendation is to get a Mac.
Problems of this kind simply don't occur. Now that's what I call a feature - if I want to shut down my computer, it shuts down. Or is that too simple for all you PC gurus out there?

Cheers

DJR

It can take up to seven or eight minites for my computer to shut down. (Running XP Home Edition). There are several ways I can temporarily correct this problem such as changing any start up selection and then restarting. Shut down will be fine after that for about a twnety minute period and then the problem re-appears. I'm not very computer literate. Any simple things I can Do?

As alluded to in the article: I'd start with an up-to-date spyware scan and an anti-virus scan right away.

If I shout down and start the computer several times per day is it harmful to the computer

Harmful? No. Will it wear out a little faster? Maybe. It really depends on the quality of the computer to begin with. For most machines it won't matter, but for poor quality equipment it can.

Running XP Pro SP2, with Windows update turned on.
At shutdown, I've been getting the message "updates are being installed" and "do not turn the computer off" (or similar) and I've left it to do its own thing overnight - but in the morning its still trying to install update 1 of 3 ...
Could this be related? I tried to install an application today but could only do it after I'd used setup.exe's /verbose switch. Have I lost an InstallShield registry setting?

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