We have received a mail from one of our readers Vikram, having slow and delayed shutdown time on his windows XP computer.

The problem of slow or delayed shutdown is very commonly faced by most of the window XP users. If you are using windows XP for a long time, you are more likely to have such problem.

Why Slow shutdown?

In Windows XP certain registry keys are responsible for determining how long windows will wait before shutting down all the opened programs and services after the shutdown command has been given by the user.

Lets see how we can fix the slow shutdown in windows XP

Fix:

You need to optimise some registry keys values in order to speed up the shutdown process.

1. Open Start >> Run and type regedit and press enter

2. Now navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\’
In this entry, you will see a registry key named WaitToKillAppTimeout .

Double click on it and set its value to 1000 , this value is the time in milliseconds for which the windows waits before all the processes and services are closed.

This way you have set it to 1 second.

Not only this, there are some other registry settings set by default due to which Windows XP will prompt the user for input if there are one or more applications still not closed or not responding. This increases the shutdown time due to no response from the user.

So, you should also change that registry key settings value.

3. Navigate to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop’

Double click on the registry key ‘AutoEndTasks.’ and set its value to 1

4. That is all, Trouble Fixed.

Now restart your system, you will see a considerable reduction in the shutdown time this time.

Tip: If modifying registry seems cumbersome to you can simply create a instant shutdown shortcut on your desktop.

1. Right click on your desktop and select New >> Shortcut

2. copy the following command: %windir%\System32\shutdown.exe -s -f -t 00

3. Name your shortcut as instant shutdown

4. You can use this created shortcut for fast shutdown.

This will forcibly end all running tasks and shutdown instantly.

Warning: Make sure to save any unsaved work before you shutdown using these tips. It may cause loss of unsaved work.

This content is just a summary, read the full article at ©2010 TroubleFixers - All about fixing computer troubles. All Rights Reserved.

Windows XP Shutdown too slow, fix it to shutdown instantly is a post from TroubleFixers - All about fixing computer troubles

Are you among those who are not able to access or see your folder options under File Menu>>Tools in Windows Explorer on your Windows XP ? This problem of hidden or disabled folder options occur normally due to malicious virus (w32.rontokbro@mm) activity.

The virus creates an entry in registry to disable “Folder Options” in Windows explorer.

Let us see how we can fix it.

Fix:

In most of the cases, even if the virus is been already removed by your anti-virus program, it doesn’t restore the registry back to the original state. Also anti-virus usually does not delete the registry entry created by the virus.

For restoring the registry settings,follow the steps given below

Enable your folder options in explorer.

1. Go to Start > RUN

2. Type regedit and press enter.

3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > Explorer

4. On the right side of the screen, you can see some registry entry names, out of them, right-click on NoFolderOptions and click Modify option.

5.A new small screen pops up, on this screen, sen the value data field as 0 (zero).Press OK.

That’s it but it requires reboot. Trouble Fixed.

If you don’t want to play with the registry yourself ,you can also download the registry file and double click it to add it to the registry.

Technorati Tags: hidden folder options,w32.rontokbro virus problem

This content is just a summary, read the full article at ©2010 TroubleFixers - All about fixing computer troubles. All Rights Reserved.

Folder options disabled by Virus / Trojan is a post from TroubleFixers - All about fixing computer troubles