My Vista Business always takes forever to shutdown - I just measured and it hangs with the message "Shutting down..." for more than 4 minutes. I am not willing to take this any longer! What can I do to speed this up?

Any tool, registry entries or whatever may be appropriate here welcome!

Michael

On Mon, 18 May 2009 10:32:36 +0100, Michael Moser
<michael-nospam.moser@nospam.freesurf.ch> wrote:
[color=blue]
> My Vista Business always takes forever to shutdown - I just measured and
> it hangs with the message "Shutting down..." for more than 4 minutes. I
> am not willing to take this any longer! What can I do to speed this up?
>
> Any tool, registry entries or whatever may be appropriate here welcome!
>
> Michael
>[/color]

Has it allways done this?
Does it eventually shut down correctly - or are you powering it off after
5 minutes?
I had a problem where it took a long time to shutdown and as a result I
powered the system off, and so I didn't get the BSOD that told me what the
problem was.

Check that is it not auto rebooting after a BSOD - go to Control
panel|System|Advanced System Settings

In the advanced tab there is a startup and recovery sections. Press
Settings...

In the system failure section there is a check box "Automatically restart"

uncheck this and press OK.

This won't solve the problem but might let you see the cause.

Another place to look is in the event logs - go to control
panel|Administrative tools|Event Viewer
Before doing this I would note the time and shut the system down, and
leave it to fully shut down. Then leave it off for at least 10 minutes,
then start it up and look at the logs. The reason for the delay before
startng it up again is to make it easy to tell the log entries for the
start up from those associated with the shut down.


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Michael Moser wrote:
[color=blue]
> My Vista Business always takes forever to shutdown - I just measured and
> it hangs with the message "Shutting down..." for more than 4 minutes. I am
> not willing to take this any longer! What can I do to speed this up?[/color]

Shutdown issues are generally caused by a program and/or process that is
refusing to exit gracefully. The program and/or process can be from malware
or can be legitimate (such as an invasive antivirus like Norton or McAfee).
If you are using a Norton or McAfee product, uninstall it and replace with
a better program such as NOD32, Kasperksy, or Avast (free). The Windows
Firewall is adequate for most people. With Vista, shutdown issues can also
be caused by old/poorly written drivers so make sure all drivers are
updated. See Step B. below for general driver directions.

A.The first step is always to make sure your computer is virus/malware free.

[url]http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware[/url]

B. Drivers - The First Law of Driver Updates is "if it ain't broke, don't
fix it". Normally if everything is working you want to leave things as they
are. The exception is that heavy-duty gamers will usually want to update
their video and sound drivers to squeeze every last bit of performance out
of the hardware to get the fastest frame rates. If you're not one of those
people, you don't need to update your drivers if there are no problems you
are trying to solve.

Never get drivers from Windows Update. Get them from:

1. The device mftr.'s website; OR
2. The motherboard mftr.'s website if hardware is onboard; OR
3. The OEM's website for your specific machine if you have an OEM computer
(HP, Dell, Sony, etc.).

Read the installation instructions on the website where you get the drivers.

To find out what hardware is in your computer:

1. Read any documentation you got when you bought the computer.
2. If the computer is OEM, go to the OEM's website for your specific model
machine and look at the specs (you'll be there to get the drivers anyway)
3. Download, install and run a free system inventory program like Belarc
Advisor or System Information for Windows.

[url]http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html[/url] - Belarc Advisor
[url]http://www.gtopala.com/[/url] - System Information for Windows

C. If the computer is virus/malware-free, drivers are current, and no Norton
or McAfee programs are installed, then do clean-boot troubleshooting to see
which program/process is the culprit:

How to perform a clean boot in Vista and XP -
[url]http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796[/url]

D. If you need more information, here is an excellent shutdown
troubleshooter:

[url]http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm[/url]

Standard caveat: If troubleshooting the issue is too difficult - and there
is absolutely no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of tea - take the
machine to a computer repair shop. This will not be your local
BigComputerStore/GeekSquad type of place. Get recommendations from family,
friends, colleagues.

Malke
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MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
[url]http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ[/url]