I need a solution please. When I go to shut down from the start menu>turn off computer, nothing happens. I manually shut down using Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up task manager and logoff from there. I fixed it once before but have forgoten the procedure. Any clues my friends?

You don't say what OS your running I have Windows XP and if you go to your desktop and right click that will bring up properties dialogue go to screen saver pick power options and you should see in advanced options for shutting down your computer. Good luck

Yes, I have XP (Xtra Painfull)

Yes, I have XP (Xtra Painfull)

Darryl

*lol*

Thanks, I tried:-) Back to the drawing board!

Sorry :( Good luck

HAHA! I like the Xtra Painful!! Ill have to remeber that, very good.
Then ther'es Internet Exploder. ;) ..etc...

go to start->shut down
when it doesnt do anything, press ctrl+alt+delete and check for any halted or stalling processes, or process with high cpu times. your problem may start there..

System Idle process reads 97 and is jumping around as well as svchost.exe which is at 3 under the cpu column.

bleh
do you ever get a message about a task not ending and you must "end now" during your regular shut downs?

Hehe, I do, I do:-?

You might try downloading a freebie like Privacy Eraser. When you're ready to shut down, just run the program and have it shut the machine down for you. Here.

i shutdown using the same method as lars63 posted (control panel>power options>advanced) i've set the "when i press the power button on my computer" to shutdown so that i just need to tap the power button on the keyboard.

i thought that was the case. next time you get the end now message, pay attention to what task this is. this program is likely causing the stalling.

i never fully shut down my computer. I've set it so that when I press the power button on my computer it goes into Hibernation ( In other words is saves whatever i was doing a the time, watever programs where open etc to the hard disk) then when i press the power buttton on my pc, the computer reloads windows exactly how it was before in a fraction of the normal start up time. Its rather handy.Please not that this function is only avaiable on XP and only works with some hard drives. If you want I could post again with all the info on how to configure your computer to do this?

I recommend a full reboot everynow and then.

The system idle process apparently causes all sorts of problems on XP. I've had problems with it before.

Darryl, what is your machine doing immediately before you shut down? Have you been working on it and then shutting it down straight away, or is it the case that it has been sitting there doing nothing much and then you go to switch it off?

errmmm. the system idle process doesnt "cause" problems, this is simply how much of your cpu time is not being use. the higher the better i promise :p

Thank you I will try these other ways of shutting down.

I guess all those people across the internet on various technical forums are wrong then when they curse the idle process.

The idle process is actually things like creating restore points etc. Windows XP detects when your CPU is idle and then does certain "maintenance" things during those times.

Thanks. I am aware of what it does.

That was directed at noobguy. I think we need to get a quoute option in the forums ;)

I'm sorry, I was wrong. Everyone should try and keep their Idle process at 10% or less...
*sarcasm*
I'm aware of what the idle process is...

I knew you were. That's why you originally said it ":P" like that, but not all people would kow it, so that's why I clarified!

<-duped again!

Sounds like a very simple-irritate virus. Maybe try a online-virusscan? (Always updated)...

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

You will get a new window in front of you, click yes, and there you go.
I never had that problem before... But I had problems like my pc wouldn't start :) That's much more f*ck*d. !

Try checking out Windows XP Knowledge base Here. It has quite a few possibilities on why this might happen.

I've had this problem in the past and it turned out to be pesky ad-ware. I installed ad-aware 6.0 on my machine and do periodic scan and delete any ad-ware that it finds. No more problems. Ad-ware is a free program and can be found by doing a search using just about any search engine. Hope it helps.

If you want to get rid of spyware I highly recommend Spybot: Search and Destroy. It has saved my ass lots of times when I loaded the family PC up with crap. (not to worry i've got my own PC now to load up) :-P You can find it here.

I use Ad-aware (correction on michaels spelling) Spybot S&D and HiJackThis (very good but requires some technical knowledge). They are the only 3 I would recommened. Most others are adware programs themselves.

Are you using XP in Classic mode? If not try that and see if it helps. I personally prefer classic mode, and I worked on a friends PC a few day back, and he uses XP in the normal mode. When you shut down, it takes ages for it to actually shut down. With classic mode it seems a whole lot quicker and it doesn't show that screen with "Windows is Shutting Down"