My computer sometimes doesn't turn off?

Question

sometimes when I shut down my computer it gets stuck at the "Windows is shutting down" screen. Ive tried holding ctrl,alt,delete and exiting all applications running which works (sometimes). But it goes past the "Windows is saving settings" screen, I guess thats a good thing.

Does anybody know what causes this problem, and how to fix it and does turning my computer off by holding the power button going to damage it?

Thanks.

Answer 1

If your computer is not shutting down it means that windows is saving the settings you made & sometimes if any program isn't responding windows take some time to shut it.

I don't know the exact answer but there is a trick to shutdown computer in just 5 sec

hold down ctrl+alt+del ,  then click on shutdown then hold ctrl and click turn off, your computer will shut down in few secs.

Answer 2

Yes, holding the power button in does damage the file system.  You should look into the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detai...

It solved this problem for me on Windows XP. It's essential on Windows 2000.  It forces your open programs to release the registry if they're stuck.  Which is why the shutdown process sticks on the "Windows is shutting down" screen.