[SOLVED] Slow shutdown

Is there anything I can do to fix or improve a rather slow shutdown? My startup seems ok , just about normal, but the shutdown has recently increased to just about 2 minutes which is a lot longer than it used to be which was just about 15 seconds or so. I have been running Microsoft Security Essentials as an antivirus for over a year now so it is not likely to have caused the problem.

Just to tidy up this thread I want to pass on that I have managed to resolve this issue by perusing contributions by other people to this problem in various other locations. I tried nearly all the suggestions but what eventually worked for me was this: Open regedit.exe by writing ...regedit ...in Search programs and files in Start Menu. The new window gives you the registry. Then open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then... SYSTEM, then... CurrentControlSet, then... Control, then...Session Manager, then... Memory Management. Click on Memory Management once and you get a row of different files in the right hand panel. From these pick ClearPageFileAtShutdown (the second one in my computer), by clicking it once (it will highlight). Then double-click the highlighted file and you will get a small window called Edit DWord (32-bit) Value. In this window you will se a highlighted number. Change it to 0 , if the number is 1, and then click OK. This small adjustment worked like a treat for me and the computer shuts down again in 10-15 seconds.

Great. Good bit of research!
You may find this helpful. I see you know how to edit the registry. You may have programs which are "hanging" a little when you shutdown.

Open Regedit then HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop


In the right pane, look for these entries:


HungAppTimeOut: Give it to 1000 (the original value is 5000 miliseconds)
WaitToKillAppTimeout: Give it to 2000 (the original value is 20,000 miliseconds).

Usual precaution: Back up your registry before proceeding.

Thank you for your kind comments.
For your feedback regarding your additional advice: I do not possess a file called HungAppTimeOut under HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop, maybe because I have a desktop PC and not a laptop; but I altered the DWord Value for WaitToKillAppTimeout to 2000 from an original 5000 with no adverse effects but neither any discernible beneficial ones either so far.