A question for the IT bods and buffs out there

[Nuvo]

I am having a few annoying niggles with shutting down MS XP SP2, one annoyance is the time it takes for the Turn Off Computer options to be displayed, (BTW I've tweaked the registry to reduce shutdown times just so you know).

My registry is pretty tidy and the boot partition of my hard disk has low fragmentation.

The other thing is sometimes clicking on the Turn Off button occasionally has no effect. This is also true when running the console command shutdown - s or shutdown -s -f.

Get as technical as you like, I haven't found my answer via Goggle.

Thanks,
Rob.

[hiltoa]

Have you found this site? It could give you some ideas to try...

http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php

[Nuvo]

Yes, this was one of the sites I found, good info, no mention of my particular problem though. Thanks.

[hiltoa]

Is the p.c. networked? It will try to verify any connections it has to networked hosts before giving you the option to turn off - also have you run anti-spyware checks? - if you have any nasties on there, they will slow down things...

[Ski]

For your button issue. Go to power setting in ur control pannel to change how it behaves.

normally the pc will act differently anyway depending on whats its doing. To make sure it turns off press and hold power button for 5 seconds.

regarding you shutdown issues, I cant comment as you've hacked away at your registry, and even the experienced ADMIN's shoudnt hack their registry unless absolutely nessesary.

[Ski]

if u tried everything and still got no clue, **** it with a hammer then it has a genuine reason not to work.

[Nuvo]

Hi, It's not networked, but I diasbled Network DDE and Network DDE DSDM services as they are not needed anyway. The system is clean, it has up to date anti spyware and antivirus software installed. No oddball pocesses running or hidden rootkits to be found.

I'd prefer not start with a fresh install as there is so much specialist software needed to be reinstalled, patch and configured. The PC is running very well otherwise.
This is beginning to bug me.

EDIT: Are there any other services (network or otherwise) I could disable that might be attributed to this problem?

[Nuvo]

For your button issue. Go to power setting in ur control pannel to change how it behaves.

You misunderstand me, you are talikng about the physical power supply button, I am talking about the software shutdown button. I had a look a look at this all the same.

regarding you shutdown issues, I cant comment as you've hacked away at your registry, and even the experienced ADMIN's shoudnt hack their registry unless absolutely nessesary.

Hmm, there is nothing wrong with editing registry setting provided you have a backup and you know what you are doing. I surprised admins don't hack there registry.
The changes I made were minimal and they just decrease wait times.

Not editing the registry - is this something Microsoft dictates when training for an admin qualification?

[Sidspud]

Have you checked your Task Manager to see what process are running just before shutdown?

Check the Processes tab and if CPU useage is high on anything other than System Idle Process then try ending that process first before shutting down.

[hiltoa]

Not editing the registry - is this something Microsoft dictates when training for an admin qualification?

[hiltoa]

I assume you have already disabled 'clear pagefile at shutdown'...

[Sidspud]

Is it XP Home or XP Pro?

[Nuvo]

I assume you have already disabled 'clear pagefile at shutdown'...

Yes I have thanks, remember its not the speed of shutdown process I have issue with, it more with the time it takes for the Stand By/Turn Off/Restart button to be diplayed on screen.

[Nuvo]

@Sidspud, System Idle Process is the only process loading the CPU, nothing else. It's XP Home I'm running atm, why do you ask?

[Sidspud]

There's a logging option on shutdown for XP Pro, but it doesn't work on Home Edition