program holding up shutdown

[green granite]

Every now and then I get the message 'waiting for a program to close' when I shut down the computer (W7) it then takes about 10 seconds before it continues, while it's not a problem I'd like to know which program is causing it (it doesn't tell you). Things like process explorer don't stay open long enough to be of any use and I can't find anything in the usual logs, has anyone any ideas on how to nail it? As it's not every time there's no point in shutting down any processes before closing to see if it cures it. Oh and before anyone starts I do NOT have any viruses.

[mixture]

Have you checked your event logs ? If windows forces the program to shut as the program might write a dying gasp to the event logs.

[green granite]

Yes mixture I've checked all the obvious logs, and according to process explorer there's nothing out of the ordinary running, I suspect it might be zone alarm but short of shutting that down every night for about a month before I shut down the PC and even then it wouldn't be certain.

[Mike-Bracknell]

*cough*

:)

[mixture]

Why the need to shut down ZA for a month ? Surely a few shutdown cycles with ZA off would soon tell ?

Sounds like a nasty cough Mike.... better get yourself off for a TB test.... :E

[dazdaz1]

Probably your anti virus software briefly running before shutting down.Does with me W7

Daz

[green granite]

You need to take summat for that cough Mike. :E I know you don't like ZA but I like to control what accesses the net.

It might well be the AV software, but what I'm interested in is a way of finding out what's left running after everything else, other than the shutdown program, has closed, it's really an exercise in computing rather than a problem.

[OFSO]

In my case it's the HP multifunction device driver that prevents going into standby. Hit "standby" again after the warning message and it DOES shut down. Minor problem, doesn't happen if I turn the HP off first.

[Mike-Bracknell]

On a slightly more erudite note than last time, when programs are left waiting in W7 it usually tells me what's making things wait (mostly it's Outlook doing it's on-close-sync), so i'm a little puzzled as to why you don't get any notifications as to what's holding up the shutdown?

[green granite]

I do if it's a Microsoft program causing it so it may be it can only tell you if it is a MS prog or I suppose it could be a service of some sort.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Does it go away on it's own? or do you end the task?

If the former, there's got to be some task which either waits for a timeout or has some processing to do pre-shutdown. Can you identify any application that would need this sort of time?

[green granite]

No it goes away by it's self, so the program as you suggest is obviously doing it's own shut down routine. The only known programs running at shutdown are super anti-spyware, Avast, Xneat and zone alarm, if it did it every night it would be simple enough to find but unfortunately it's only about once or twice a week.

[Saab Dastard]

Updates (windows or others)?

SD

[Sprogget]

I run win 7 on two seperate desktops & a lappy. The only common denominator between them is Avast & they all do the waiting thing.

[green granite]

That's interesting, thanks Sprogget

[Mike-Bracknell]

Whereas I run Avast on my main W7 laptop and it's never done that. :rolleyes:

[jimtherev]

... and I'm sortakinda midway between Sprogget and Mike - also AVG, W7. Sometimes it does; sometimes it doesn't, but it's all over so quickly that I never get to notice what's 'closing'.

Can we agree it's probably a 'feature' of W7 which is probably concealed with XP & the like, but quite likely still happens unseen?

[Gertrude the Wombat]

In my case it's the HP multifunction device driver
Usual problem with HP ... the hardware's the best so you have to buy it, pity about the attention to detail that isn't lavished on the software.

I get similar (not identical, earlier versions of Windows) behaviour which is down to HP drivers - if the network printer is turned on then windows shuts down normally, but if the network printer is turned off then there's this delay on shutting down any computer on the network.

[Spurlash2]

How long have you had the problem?

Are you using your computer as a Local Area Network server?

It may be a network service that Windows is giving the once-over before the final switch off.

Run: Services.msc to get a better grip on what is running, and Google for anything you are not sure if you need it or not.

[Spurlash2]

Just found this extract:

•Clean service shutdown: Services now have the capability of delaying the system shutdown until they have properly flushed data and finished their operations. Any crashed processes are automatically terminated after a set time period.

That is from HERE (http://www.soton.ac.uk/isolutions/windows7/win7benefitsdetails.html).

[green granite]

Thanks for that Spurlash2, I hadn't found that, the bit about crashed processes is interesting as it is almost always about the same length of time taken to close it.

[Mac the Knife]

Why are you worried about this? I get it too from time to time (usually the sound subsystem).

Some processes occasionally take longer than usual to respond to the 'term' signal and the system may (as in your case) warn you of this.

In shutdown after a bit the system will get bored waiting for a process to terminate and kill it anyway.

kill (command) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_%28command%29)

Mac :ok:

[green granite]

Why are you worried about this?

I'm not, I'm also perfectly aware of why it does it , I asked the question because I felt there ought to be a way of finding out which program it was, it was asked purely as an exercise in getting windows to give up the required information in the hope that someone here might know.

[Spurlash2]

I use the following Registry hack to shorten my shutdown times in XP/Vista and 7. On my Vista machine I have the WaitToKillServiceTimeout set to 20000, (20 seconds) You can have it as a smaller time, but this may cause snags.

The Hack for Vista and W7.
1.Click on Start.
2.Open Run command and type regedit.
3.In the regedit go at the following Location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control
4.In the right pane, right click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout and click on Modify.
5.Type in a number between 2000-20000 (2-20 seconds) and click on OK.
6.Now Close regedit.
7.Restart your Pc.

The XP link from MS HERE (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305788), which talks about increasing the timeout, but gives some extra info on the subject.
and a link HERE (http://forums.techarena.in/tips-tweaks/1107747.htm)to a short BB discussion on it.

My W7 kit shuts down in 10 seconds.

[green granite]

I had thought about doing that but decided that the extra time taken wasn't that much of a problem. But thanks for the post.