Computer slow to shut down

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Hi,
Am running windows XP home on my PC, all up to date with latest service packs installed, and windows updated regularly. AVG antivirus, adaware SE and sybot used on a regular basis along with AVG rootkit detector and Windows defender.
My problem is when I shut down the PC it takes ages to shut down.. maybe 5 sometimes 10 minutes. The taskmanager shows no programs running, and checking the processes running doesnt show any using CPU power.
The shutdown process is working but very slowly. Thee is no internet activity during this time, and the HDD is not whirring, I am open to suggestions as to what this is being caused by, before I reinstall th O/S.
Grateful for any help offered.

Kev

[dazdaz]

Happend to me a few times, not 5-10mins maybe 1-2 just switched off the wall socket. It might be backing up all your settings/cookies. Have you tried....Start>right click IE>select internet explorer>internet properties>....delete cookies then files?

good luck

[hellsbrink]

One question is "Is it slow normally?" as heat could be an issue. When was it last cleaned out as these fans sure do like dust!

If it runs "normally", is it slow on startup? And are there any other errors?

I've had a similar problem before, it was caused by the copy protection garbage on a game. There are other reasons, though.

[frostbite]

Registry cleanup needed?

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Its always been fairly quick. One of the first things I disd when it started to slow down was to open up and clean, normally do it once or twice a year anyway on all the PC,s in the house.
I have googled "slow shut down" and have a few options I can try when I get on to my home PC ( at work atm)
I will also try a registry clean up, see if that improves things. I will update if it works so others can see the cure (hopefully!!)

[Tarq57]

One possibility:
Check this registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\ Memory Management\ClearPageFileAtShutdown\ and if the value is "1", try changing it to zero.
(Info)
This setting is created by some security applications to delete the swap file at shutdown. Some (somewhat rare, I think) types of malware have been known to recreate themselves from the swapfile. If the swapfile is large, it can take a few minutes to delete it.