Way to make Windows Xp Shut Down faster
 

We all know that pulling the power to your computer has to be the absolute fastest but not the best way to shutdown your computer. In this 5 step tutorial we will show you how to make your shutdown as fast as possible.

Step 1: Stop as many services as possible.

The more that is running on your computer the more your computer has to close on shut down. Keeping a slimmer running computer will not only make your computer run faster but it will make Windows shutdown faster. Here is how its done:

Go to the Start menu and then select Run. Type ‘services.msc’ in the Run Dialog Box and click on OK. In the services window double click on the service you wish to disable. In the properties box for the selected service choose disabled in the Startup Type dropdown box. Click on OK.

Its best to restart your computer after disabling a couple of services at a time so if something undesired happens to your computer you know what disabled service needs to be re-enabled.

Step 2: Automatically kill tasks on shutdown.

Windows XP by default will ask you if you wish to end a process if an application is running during the shutdown process. This little registry change will tell Windows to automatically end the process without your confirmation.

Go to the Start menu and then select Run. In the Run box type in ‘regedit’ and click on OK. Navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop' and double click on the 'AutoEndTasks'. Change the value to 1 and click on OK.

Step 3: Reduce the wait time to kill open applications.

When you choose to shutdown your computer, Windows will automatically wait a little bit before it kills applications that are open. Here we will show you how to reduce the wait time.

Go to the Start menu and then select Run. In the Run box type in ‘regedit’ and click on OK. Navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop' and double click on the 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'. Change the value to 1000 and click on OK. Double click on 'HungAppTimeout' and change the value to 1000 then click on OK. Navigate to 'HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelDesktop' nd double click on the 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'. Change the value to 1000 and click on OK. Double click on 'HungAppTimeout' and change the value to 1000 then click on OK.

Step 4: Reduce the wait time for services to be shutdown.

Much like applications, Windows XP waits a bit for the services to shutdown before it starts killing them. Here is how to reduce the wait time.

Go to the Start menu and then select Run. In the Run box type in ‘regedit’ and click on OK. Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControl' . Double click on 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout' and change the value to 1000 then click on OK.

Step 5: The ONE click shutdown.

More mouse clicks equals more time. That’s right, why go to start then click on shutdown and select shutdown. It seems like too much work for me. Here is a tutorial on how to make a shutdown shortcut on your desktop.

Right click on your desktop and select new then shortcut. Now you will see the New Shortcut wizard. Under the location for this item type ‘SHUTDOWN -s -t 01’ then click on Next. Give the shortcut a name, I like Shutdown. Then click on Finish.

Just as a quick note you can do the same for a quick restart just enter in ‘SHUTDOWN -r -t 01’ as the location and then you are all set.

Source: TechZone.

For me, I have a gigabyte of ram and I can restart and relogin within around a minute, although this could prove useful for others.

Sounds great. I have a 512 Mb RAM. It really sucks as when I start programs like Photoshop, Image Ready, Dreamweaver and browse sites...it REALLY gets slow and therefore I wish I had a 1 GB RAM. Any idea on how much it costs one to upgrade from 512 to 1 GB RAM.

Thanks...

It depends on what type or RAM you are using, and whether you want a new stick or a used one. And also if you have any more memory expansion slots left.

I will try your tips. Thanks for giving such useful information. And for your information there is a software called WinDIE which shutdown the windows really faster but I am afraid that it may not close all the applications correctly in a good way.

I just close all programs and hit the power button. I don't hold it down, I just tap it to initiate a shutdown.

Interesting list, I didn't know there was so much involved. Thanks for sharing. What I always do as habit is close all my programs and my documents, and I wait a few moments before shutting down after that. It's been working for me so far, but if I run into any problem, I can revisit this list.

How about just never shutting down? I leave my desktop on 24/7

Well, I think he's talking about for those who rely on regular shut-down. Leaving it on doesn't really solve the problem of slow shut-down, it only evades it.

Personally what I do is I try to restart my computer every few days, and after it restarts I ctrl + alt + del out of all processes that I know I can close.

I also try to defrag every two weeks or so to keep hard drive latency to a minimum.