Shutdown hangs for a long time

You'll have to find what process is taking so long to allow the shut down ...in the meantime, a work around:
Reboot or shut down PC quickly
For a one-click method to quickly shut down or reboot your system without the fuss of going through the Start menu, make use of the Shutdown command, a command line utility in XP.

Here's how you can set up a restart button on your desktop:

1. Create a shortcut (Right-click on desktop, select New > Shortcut).

2. For location, type the following:

shutdown -r -t 0

3. Click Next, enter a name for the shortcut ("Restart" is appropriate), and click Finish.

When you click your Restart shortcut, Windows XP will reboot *automatically*!

The "-r" switch tells XP to reboot. If you'd like the shortcut to shut off your PC instead, change it to "-s"; to simply log off, change it to "-l". The "-t 0" sets the timeout (in seconds), so up this value if you find the need for it. To force running applications to close, add "-f" -- be careful with this one!

For more information on Shutdown, type "shutdown" in a command prompt window (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt), or search for Shutdown in Windows XP's Help and Support Center.

 

[XP] Speed up shutdown/boot
There are many shutdown tweaks out there for XP, so I thought I would compile a list of the best I have come across. Proper credit is given to the original Authors.

IMPORTANT: Before making any changes to the registry make sure you back it up. Not doing so can leave you in a world of ****


Start Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control.
Click on the "Control" Folder.
Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"
Right click on it and select Modify.
Set it a value lower than 2000


XP shuts down too slow?

Open your favorite Registry editing program and head to :
HKEY_Current_User\Control Panel\Desktop and look for AutoEndTasks. Default is "0". Set this value to "1".

Source our gracious host SloppyGoat


Auto Logon XP

1. click on "Start" - then click on "Run" - type "control userpasswords2"

2. click OK

3. On the Users tab, clear the "Users must enter a user name and password to
use this computer" check box.

4. A dialog will appear that asks you what user name and password should be used to logon automatically.

Your all set.

Source our very own Guru memo


Disable XP Boot Logo

1. Edit boot.ini
2. Add " /noguiboot" right after "/fastdetect".
It can be re-enabled by removing the new switch. Note: This should only be done by experienced tweakers

I will not list the source of this tweak do to the fact that the site I had gotten it from steals its users tweaks and makes them their own taking all the credit. /end rant

Shutdown XP Faster

Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows XP when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled. To solve this problem you must disable this useless sound.

Click Start button.

Go to settings > Control Panel > Sound, Speech and Audio devices > Sounds and Audio Devices > Sounds.

Then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and highlight it. Now from sounds you can select, choose "none" and then click Apply and OK.

Now you should see some improvements when shutting down your system. Just a quick note from me (Kaotic). This also helps with the Windows logon .wav file. I am sorry I don't remember the exact file name since I have deleted it, but I am sure you all can find it easily.

Source is once again memo

Disable Warnings on Startup

Open your favorite registry editor and find the key below:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows]

Create a new DWORD value or modify the existing value called "NoPopUpsOnBoot" and set it to "1" to disable the popups.

Create an additional DWORD value called "Error Mode" and set it according to the table below to control which messages are suppressed.

0 = No Error Suppression
1 = Suppress System Errors
2 = Suppress All Errors