Vista - Logging off Error

[Erkenbrand]

So I tried searching the forums first, and it didn't take. If there is a thread, go ahead and point it out.

Anyways, I bought a Dell Laptop and it came with Vista. It's been working fine for the most part, I'm getting used to it. I've noticed a new problem that just recently came up (and it's been working fine for a while now, it just started doing this randomly), which is that it gets stuck on the "Logging off..." screen when you either shut down, restart, or [obviously] Log off. I'm not really sure what caused the problem to occur, as it wasn't a problem for the the first 3 weeks that I've been using the laptop. Hell, it was working fine up until last weekend. It pretty much started this Wednesday or so (and I can't recall what I changed, I don't think I did change anything at all). I tried going into the event log, and the basic message I got was that there were some processes that would refuse to close, causing the "shutdown process to be delayed". I'm not sure what to do with that information, however.

So has anyone else experienced this, or is familiar with it? What should I do to solve it? It's not a critical issue or anything (I can still go into and come out of Sleep Mode, which I do most of the time rather than shutting off anyways). But I'd like to get to the bottom of (and hopefully solve) this problem.

Thanks for the help guys. Let me know if you need more information. Oh, and almost forgot, I'm running Vista Ultimate 32-Bit Edition

Wait, nevermind. I remembered what I changed: I changed the only user account on it. I changed the name of it, and also removed the password protection. I'm pretty sure this started happening after that.

[DavidGP]

Hi

Yes, what would the process be that event log tells you is refusing to close?

Did you install any software prior to this happening as incompatible software or driver is generally the cause of Vista hitting a hang at shutdown.

[studiot]

Dell laptop?
Do you have hibernation turned on?
There is a bug in Vista (what a surprise) with the hibernation file cleaner.

start type command into the search box
right click command prompt click run as administrator
input password if any or click continue
at the command prompt type
powercfg /hibernate on
enter

restart.

Secondly try scannning the c drive

start>computer>right click on c choose properties>tools tab
click the button marked check now in error checking
ok in the user access
tick both repair options
enter

restart

Studio T