Laptop takes ages to shutdown.

Hi folks

I hope this is the right place to post this. My problem is that my laptop has recently started to take a long time to shut down. I click 'start' then 'turn off computer' then 'turn off' -the usuall basically - and then nothing happens for two or three minutes then finally it goes through its usual shutting down routine. It isn't that it's locking up-I can still use programs normally while i'm waiting after having pressed 'turn off'. I've tried the basic computer maintanance Major Geeks recommends. Can anyone help?

 

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Greetings, Uli...

The slow shutdown could possibly be due to background programs trying to close, network connections being severed, and/or hidden maintenance programs finishing their act...you might try monitoring your Task Manager just before shutting down to see if anything stands out...

You might also try booting into Safe Mode, then shutting down, to get a comparison...

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Thanks for your reply Caliban.

I'd like to try booting in safe mode. How do I do that?

 

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Not knowing your operating system, I'll wing it:

Start your computer, but before Windows loads, press F8 or F9 (on some older machines, the key is 'Ctrl', and on some European keyboard layouts, it's a combination of keys)...you should get a DOS-type screen with several options...select 'Safe Mode', yada-yada...if you reach the normal Windows splash screen, you've missed it, so try again...

Safe Mode is just Windows loading with minimal driver support, without any 3rd-party software...it's a good troubleshooting tool...

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sorry, should have said. I'm using XP service pack 3. Anyhow, you winged it right. I managed to start up in safe mode (pressing F8). It shut down fine so I know somethings wrong. No waiting. I looked at the task manager as I shut down in normal mode but nothing stood out. I also took as much of the startup menu as seemed safe and then shut it down imediately after it has finished starting up (I gave it plenty time to settle down) but still had to wait.
The only thing I can think of is that I defragged the registry around the same time as it started playing up but no idea how to even start on that.