Extremely slow shut-down times

[irishcrazy2005]

OK, I have no idea if anyone will be able to help with this, but I thought that I would give it a shot. I am running Windows XP Pro on a pretty good machine. For the last week or so I have been experiencing extremely slow shut-down times (I'm talking 4+ minutes). I have not installed any new software, and I use Firefox and have scanned with AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy so I should not have any adware or spyware problems, and I keep updated virus definition files and have run a full system scan with no negative results. Seemingly connected to this issue is the fact that many times I cannot end an unresponsive program through the Ctrl-Alt-Del menu anymore. If I hit end, it just does nothing. For the past week or so I have also almost always got one of those "Trying to end program" messages when shutting down. Any thoughts on what I might be able to do to fix this, short of reformatting, would be greatly appreciated.

-Phil

[Ted]

What's the name of the process (ctrl-alt-delete) that won't shut down?
What's the name of the program that won't shut down - the one mentioned in the "Trying to end program" message?
Think carefully. Is there any software you've installed or uninstalled since this delay started?
How about any hardware installed or removed? Not likely the problem, but you never know.

[irishcrazy2005]

There have been a couple processes that won't stop, but one recurring one and I don't recognize it, but at the moment I do not have the name of it. I've got to write it down next time it comes us. I have had problems with several programs getting frozen (due to reasons not related to this) and then not being able to make them go away with Ctrl-Alt-Del. It really could be any program, I'm sure that they are not related to the shut-down issue. Finally, I know for sure that I have not installed any new software or hardware. This is why I am so baffled.

-Phil

[irishcrazy2005]

Just an update on this issue. I am no longer getting a close program dialogue box when I am shutting down. It just takes forever to get to the blue screen. Then, once it is there, it says "Logging off" for a real long time, then "Saving Settings" real quickly, then "Shutting Down" for a long time.

I am still having the same issue with Ctrl-Alt-Del shut down. The reason I am having programs freeze up is that when they try to access the internet for the first time my Norton (I know, I know, but I've got a year subscription and I don't want to waste it!) firewall freaks out on it and even though it asks me if I want to allow it and I say yes, the program freezes. I then go to Task Manager and hit end process, it confirms, I confirm, and then nothing happens. Repeat. Nothing happens. This could go on forever.

Any suggestions at all would be useful. Thanks!

-Phil

[Ted]

FIrst of all, the process(es) you're unable to stop very well may have something to do with the shut-down delays. At shut-down, the system systematically stop all of those processes and when it gets to one that is stubborn, it throws up that "Trying to end program" message and waits for your decision. If you decide to let it wait a while longer, the system will too. Some processes take longer to stop for one reason or another. If, after a certain amount of time they don't stop, the system stops them anyway. This is where some people have experienced data loss or maybe settings that seem to revert back to what they were before a they were changed - the program (or process) didn't have enough time to save things before the system stopped it.

The names of those processes that you can't manually stop via ctrl-alt-del are important to trying to solve this.

You might try uninstalling Norton and reinstalling it again. I've never used the firewall, but if it works the same as their anti-virus, you'll get a bonus - you'll see that your subscriptions are set back to one year (or whatever they are when you first installed it). Norton could be the cause of the programs to hang on shut-down or it may even be Norton itself that is hanging. That is why it's important for me to know what processes and programs are hanging. If you're hitting ctrl-alt-del and stopping a process belonging to Norton, you may very well be causing the freezes you're experiencing. A reboot is the best solution when you have problems with a firewall or AV software. If that doesn't fix the problem, a reinstallation of the firewall/AV is the next thing to try.

My advice would be to uninstall ALL Norton/Symantec products and reinstall them again, following the instructions given. I don't remember what order, but their LiveUpdate and another program (LiveReg maybe?) have to be uninstalled either before or after the main program. It should be in a help file or if I remember correctly, it'll tell you if you try to uninstall the wrong part first.

Norton/Symantec products are all tied closely together when they're installed and "take over" a lot of system components (for lack of the proper word). Sometimes simply uninstalling via Add/Remove is not enough, but usually it is. If it isn't, you'll need someone who knows about the registry that can clean out all the remnants of Norton/Symantec products to get things back to where they were before.

People will suggest using System Restore to restore to a point before Norton was installed, but depending on how long ago that was, that can lead to other problems. I don't recommmend system restore to anyone, but the very casual user who doesn't make many changes at all to their system. You can try System Restore if uninstalling/reinstalling Norton doesn't fix your problem, but make sure to save a restore point just prior to doing it so you can return to where you were if you have problems with the old restore point.

I can't and won't help online with something as complicated as cleaning the registry of Norton's remnants. It's too risky.

Let us know how it goes.

[irishcrazy2005]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation. I will probably try to uninstall and reinstall Norton on Sunday when I have some free time. Unfortunately they have fixed that little bonus bug, because I have already reinstalled this program once and it gave me the same expiration date. Anyhow, I know a bit about cleaning the registry (I do have quite a bit of computer knowledge, I swear!), but like you said I don't think that will be necessary.

The other thing is that the shutdown is slow even if I haven't attempted to end a process. I also don't always get a stop process box each time I shut down. Just sometimes. Anyhow, I will update later. Thanks again.

-Phil

Edit: OK, the process that keeps hanging up at shutdown is too long to acutally see the whole thing on the box (which you cannot resize). It says "Trd ww: C:\Program Files\Common Files\...

[jcrab66]

you might consider gettin rid on Norton and going with something else, the software is mediocre and the support sucks......

[Ted]

I meant to tell you to try an online virus scan in my last post. You might want to try that. Also, next time you shut down, try to catch the very last part of that message. The name of the file at the end would be very helpful.

Goto your Start Menu and click on Run and type in "msconfig" without the quotes. Then click on the Startup tab. If you have a screen capturing program, capture that window, scrolling if you have to. If not, you can hit the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard and then open MS PAint or any other graphics program and "paste" the contents of the clipboard. Save that image as .jpg (smaller file size) and post it here. Again, you may have to scroll and take several caps.

A screenshot of the running processes would be nice too. Make sure you maximize the window so you can get all the processes in one shot.

jcrab66 - any recommendations as to a better anti-virus program or are you not confident enough to back up your statements? I'll give you their service is bad, but their AV isn't. There are worse ones out there and without a "good" recommendation, someone reading your advice might buy one of those bad ones

I doubt Norton is the problem, so don't go buying a different brand just yet. It most likely won't solve your problem. Following that logic, one could buy a new computer to solve ANY problem that arises.



EDIT: To try to speed things up, I Googled that trd ww thing and saw a couple mentions of Total Recorder. If you have that, you might try uninstalling it and then reboot your computer. Shut it down once more to see if it helped. If so, you know the likely culprit. If not, then post those screenshots and we'll continue.

If you use AIM, ICQ, or MSN instant messengers, we can work on this faster. It's up to you.

[irishcrazy2005]

Originally Posted by Ted

EDIT: To try to speed things up, I Googled that trd ww thing and saw a couple mentions of Total Recorder. If you have that, you might try uninstalling it and then reboot your computer. Shut it down once more to see if it helped. If so, you know the likely culprit. If not, then post those screenshots and we'll continue.

If you use AIM, ICQ, or MSN instant messengers, we can work on this faster. It's up to you.

Haha, I also googled and found out that it might be total recorder last night. I just haven't restarted yet because I wanted to let the computer run for awhile before I tried (because sometimes it shuts down at a normal speed when it has only been running a few minutes). I think that this may have been the problem.

As far as getting the full file name of that process, I don't know how to see it because the dialogue window can't be resized and I can't figure out how to scroll over. It also shuts pretty quickly sometimes and it's too fast to get a screen shot. Anyhow, I'll restart soon and see how it goes.

-Phil

[tunic]

Hi,

when was the last time you defragmented your PC? Especially when you download from bittorrent or other P2P networks, you should defragment your PC regularly. If you don't it will things slow down

BTW can anyone recommend me a good defragmenter? I'm now trying out O&O Defrag, but I'm not very fond of it. But I'm really low in diskspace with a lot of very large files

[jcrab66]

Originally Posted by Ted

jcrab66 - any recommendations as to a better anti-virus program or are you not confident enough to back up your statements? I'll give you their service is bad, but their AV isn't. There are worse ones out there and without a "good" recommendation, someone reading your advice might buy one of those bad ones

oh yes, i forgot to try and formulate an answer to account for the stupid consumer who goes out and starts using something new without doing their own research. That being the case you should get rid of Norton AV and go with either Pcillin or AVG, both of which are much stronger at virus detection

[thisistoto]

Panda is a good freeware antivirus, they are constantly updating.




Irish, have you tried starting up in safe made and then shutting down that way?

[irishcrazy2005]

In response to a few threads here. The Total Recorder uninstall did not fix it. I have not had the time to uninstall Notron and check it out yet. I like AVG antivirus and Sysgate personal firewall very much and will switch to them eventually. I just feel bad wasting 5 months that are left on my Norton subscription. I did try to defrag before I posted anything here, however I just used the standard windows defrag and there were several large files (FLAC and VOB) that could not be defragged. This could very well be the problem now that I think about it more. I should try to burn all that junk off and get it off the hard drive and see what happens.

-Phil

[Five]

AVG rules

[Ted]

Originally Posted by irishcrazy2005

In response to a few threads here. The Total Recorder uninstall did not fix it. I have not had the time to uninstall Notron and check it out yet. I like AVG antivirus and Sysgate personal firewall very much and will switch to them eventually. I just feel bad wasting 5 months that are left on my Norton subscription. I did try to defrag before I posted anything here, however I just used the standard windows defrag and there were several large files (FLAC and VOB) that could not be defragged. This could very well be the problem now that I think about it more. I should try to burn all that junk off and get it off the hard drive and see what happens.

-Phil

The large files won't make a difference on shut-down time, BUT if you're very low on hard drive space, THAT will.