If you’re running Windows XP and it won’t shut down, here are a few things you can try. This is a fairly simple problem to fix. First of all let me say that I know how annoying this problem can be. I used to hate sitting there staring at the computer waiting for it to shut down.

You can unplug the plug from the wall or hold down the power button for more than four seconds, but this is not the correct way to turn off your computer. Every time you perform an improper shutdown, you cause more damage to your system. There are a couple of reasons why XP won’t shut down.

First, you want to update your virus definitions to run a full scan. Same thing with your spyware cleaner. A virus or spyware running in the background can disrupt your system when you turn it off. These stubborn programs don’t want to be shut down and keep trying to run. In most cases, however, the main reason why XP won’t quit is because the registry is corrupt.

When Windows tries to shut down. It references the registry to see if any settings have been changed. If you find corrupt entries or registry keys trying to reference software that is no longer on your PC, it will by default wait the full 30 seconds per program. So what you need to do is to clean and repair your registry. When installing and uninstalling software, it creates registry keys. Uninstall programs never do a complete job and leave entries. You need to clean them from your system.

Over time, your registry will become bloated and sluggish. This causes slow startups, slow shutdowns, blue screens, slow program load times, and other annoying issues. The best way to clean and repair your registry is with a third-party program designed to do this. You can do it manually, but it is not recommended. Delete or change the wrong file and your computer may become unusable or unstable.

It’s much easier to use software that is safe and efficient and doesn’t delete any entries you need to run Windows. The entire process can be done in less than a minute. Running a scan on a fairly new computer resulted in over 300 errors. The PC we did a scan on was less than a month old. So you can imagine that an older computer will have a lot more errors and bad entries.

Once you clean and repair your system, it should work like it did when you first bought it. Some systems have become so corrupt that it would take more than 30 minutes for the computer to shut down. Computer technicians like this problem because it is easy to fix. For service calls, they will carry the repair software on a CD or memory card, run a quick scan on the PC and repair it. Now you can buy the same software they use and save the service call fee. Or a trip to the store.