xp hanging on shutdown and my computer.help..

Some steps would be to do some housework cleanup tasks, like run some of the below ( I copied and pasted from another reply of mine )

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Junk/Temp and Registry Cleaners
CCleaner which will not only remove all the temp internet and temp installers* ( *left over from installing various software ) but it will also clean your registry and a clean registry to a point does help in the OS finding the correct paths to installed software faster.

This one recomended by BIGBAZZA is also a great option CleanUp! ( note: doesnt clean registry this one, but does clean temp files and junk, will catch what CCleaner misses )

This older but still good cleaner works a treat Regcleaner, easy to use and backs up the removed registry entries just in case something is changed and an application doesnt work ( never had it happen to me in the years using this app but you never know )


Defrag ( if you dont have a 3rd part one already )
The best option IMHO is O&O Defrag Pro, but sadly that one is not free so the next best options if you dont have a dedicated defrag application are, and I have two to choose from Diskeeper Lite or O&O Defrag 2000 Freeware Edition



Also a good option to boosting performance of your PC is to check the software that starts up with your PC as many un-needed running tasks can and do slow your PC, for his task, you can use Microsoft Defender's Tools menu link mentioned later on or CCleaner ( but do find out either by using Process Explorer to ID running tasks or Google the .exe file and you will generally find out what software an .exe is related to ) to delete the startup, which just means in most cases you have to manually start the software, ie. MSN Messenger, the multitude of update programs for items like your printer, burning software etc, DO however leave all security and operating system update applications alone )

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also do run some malware scans and checks to rule out malware being the culprit,

Malware ( aka Virii, Trojans and Spyware )
well you have many options in this catagory and below are a few I personally like.

Spywareblaster
Does not scan and remove spyware but does help prevent it being installed in the first place by adding all the known sites and URLs that propagate this unwelcome guest!

Microsoft Windows Defender Beta
Good resident malware scanner, also has a few other tools, one as mentioned earlier is the ability to tell you whats in your startup and which software it relates to, this allows you to make your mind up to wether you really need it to start at boot or not... to get to this menu run the software and click Tools > Software Explorer > the drop down box gives you some options but generally it starts with startups, just look down the list and decide what software you have installed that doesnt really need to start at boot time but only when you need it, choices are Disable( if your not sure you want to remove fully or not ) and Delete ( to perminently remove ).

Ad-Aware SE Personal another good on demand scanner for Malware/Spyware

a-squared (a²) Free edition A great on-demand scanner for many trojans/virii/dialers etc and is compatible with other AntiVirus applications.

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Check your hardware drivers and make sure your upto date.


and then check out all the great advice on this page http://www.aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.php ( its basically what I refer to when T-Shooting a PC with shutdown issues. If you have an Nvidia GFX card then pay particular attention to the section on SHUTDOWN WORKS, BUT IT’S REAL SLOW and disableing the Nvidia Driver Helper service )

 

BAD thing in all honesty....

As its always wise to use windows update to keep the OS fully upto date, with security patches and alike. You miss an important update that blocks some potential nasty malware or exploit then your likely to gain some problems. You may also miss a fix for an item that may speed up your PCs running ( sometimes updates are issues that fix compatability with 3rd party software, which may have resulted in slowdowns or errors etc )

Having said that I do not use the auto update from within XP , but prefer to view and download any updates direct from the Microsoft Update site. This way I can read and know if any of the non-security criticals are updates I really need.

 

Just as a footnote ....one of the microsoft patches addressed the slow shut down problem in win xp ....another good reason to update.

 

Glad we helped littlejohn and the updates went fine

Yes as Bold Eagle stated.. do stay away from the hardware updates, but do make a note of what they are so you can visit the manuafaturers site to get the full drivers, also depending on what the software ones are they are generally ok as they are more or less for MS Office ( if you have that installed ) so also a good idea to update that as some potential serious security exploits have been found of late in office.


but you could always let us know what the updates it lists for you are and we can advise?