Slow Shut Down

[Steven Fisher]

My brother's XP Home has been slow to shut down since he got the PC.
Last week, I reformatted it for him and now it shuts down instantly.

However, my PC started shutting down slowly a few days later.

Anyone have any ideas for things I can try other than reformatting it?
He has a smaller hard drive than me, so backing up everything to
reformat would be very painful.

Thanks!

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

My brother's XP Home has been slow to shut down since he got the PC.
Last week, I reformatted it for him and now it shuts down instantly.

However, my PC started shutting down slowly a few days later.

Anyone have any ideas for things I can try other than reformatting it?
He has a smaller hard drive than me, so backing up everything to
reformat would be very painful.

try the shutdown troubleshooting tips at:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

re-formatting is the last resort, and should almost never be necessary.