Partial shutdown

[Guest]

Since last week, I have not been able to either shut down or restart the
computer from either the Start menu or Task Manager. Around 10 processes
shutdown, the desktop color fades just as it should, but when either button
is clicked, the color comes back and I can continue doing whatever I want
even with the 10 processes not running, no error messages or any other
indication that something isn't working. I have noticed that it does respond
and shuts down/restarts if I don't open IE 7. Also, if I have opened IE,
sometimes the process 'iexplore.exe' will stop and sometimes it won't. When
is does stop, shut down/restart is normal. I now have to stop the process in
Task Manager before I attempt to shut down/restart, if it has not stoped when
I closed IE.
It seems to me that I should be able to shut down even if IE has web pages
open. I have run anti virus, spyware, and everything else to no avail. All
updates are fine, we don't use this for anything but emails, searching the
web and a few Hoyle card games, all which we have been doing for several
years.
We're running XP SP2 Home, 2 hard drives, and various other peripherals.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Guest]

A program or utility still runs when shutdown or restarting pc,you can
trouble shoot it with Msconfig kb310560

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Andrew, But I'm not sure how to use this. I printed it out and read
it, but it seems to pertain to start up issues. The problem is that
'iexplore.exe' doesn't shut down most of the time, but I don't think that's
the problem because I should be able to shut down even if I have an IE page
open.
Where can I find shutdown sequence info?