Shutdown very slow XP Pro w/SP2

[Guest]

Dell laptop has been very slow to shutdown lately. It seems to follow a
pattern where connections tray hangs, explorer.exe hangs, then it sits on
closing connections, saving settings, etc. I've tried just about everything
I found on this group to resolve this, but nothing seems to help.

Any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Windows XP Shutdown Troubleshooter (scroll down to Shutdown "hangs"...)
http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

 

[Guest]

That information is older than dirt (note the w/SP2 in the title). Using
msconfig, I have found the trouble has something to do with services. With
all the recent posts, I suspect it is a new virus or spyware, in which case
you can throw all of these troubleshooting schemes out the windows, or
Windows as the case might be.

 

[Guest]

After wasting several hours going through the troubleshooting for shutdown, I
downloaded and install a free version of Adaware from Lavasoft, after trying
several paid spyware removal tools. This fixed the shutdown problem. I
should have went with my "gut" from the beginning after seeing several recent
posts about this same problem. Sometimes you have to think "outside of the
box" when troubleshooting. What make more sense? Going though all of the
rehash troubleshooting suggestions, most of which have already been fixed by
the installation of SP2, or concentrating on something timely like spyware or
a virus. The internet in general is really starting to smell like an old
library. It is suppose to be the latest available information; yet I'm
seeing posts from 2002 when I specify last three months in google searches.
Heck, there are still techs out there recommending the undoing of UPNP
services after that hole has been patched by microsoft probably a year or so
ago. To quote a famous line from a movie, "What a waste of talent"