Why All the Problems Shutting Down My PC?

Lincoln Spector
From the July issue of PC World magazine

My PC takes about 5 minutes to shut down. What's causing the problem, and how can I fix it?

Linnett Williamson, Felt, Oklahoma

Remember when turning off an electronic gadget meant flipping a switch? Shutting down a PC is much more complicated. Sometimes Windows takes an extremely long time to close, and too often the operating system doesn't shut down at all. I'll discuss the major causes and describe fixes for both problems.

First, here's some general advice: Bugs in hardware drivers cause most shutdown difficulties. Before you do anything else, go to the Web sites of your hardware vendors and look for the latest updates.

One common cause of recalcitrant shutdowns in Windows 2000 and XP is Terminal Services. If you never use remote desktop, fast user switching, remote assistance, the terminal server, or other Terminal Services, you don't need this. To shut it off, select Start, Run, type services.msc /s, and press Enter. Find and double-click the Terminal Services listing. (Of course, if you don't have Terminal Services installed, your slow shutdowns have another cause.) Change 'Startup type' to Disabled or Manual and click OK.

If you use Windows 2000 or XP Pro (but not the Home edition, alas), you can speed up your shutdowns by verifying that you're not clearing your virtual memory whenever you exit out of Windows. This is not the default setting, but it's still good to check. Select Start, Run, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter. Navigate the left pane as if you're in Windows Explorer to Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options. In the right pane, scroll to Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile. If the option is enabled, double-click it, select Disabled, and click OK. (You may not have this option on your system.)

Finally, the more programs you have running on your system, the longer it takes Windows to close each one before shutting itself down. You could simply close your programs manually before exiting Windows, but you still would have to wait for them to close. For additional Windows shutdown tricks, browse to "Make Windows Start and Stop the Way You Want" to check out last month's Windows Tips column.

If Windows won't shut down at all, run the Startup and Shutdown Troubleshooter (unless you have Windows 2000, which lacks this wizard). To launch the troubleshooter, select Start, Help (Help and Support in XP). In Windows 98, click Search. Type shutdown troubleshooter, press Enter, and select Startup and Shutdown Troubleshooter (see FIGURE 1).

If the troubleshooter wizard doesn't help, or if you have Windows 2000, here are some other suggestions:

If you have Windows XP and haven't upgraded to Service Pack 1, visit this page to download the update. It fixes a shutdown bug.

If Windows closes but the PC stays on with a message that you can now safely turn off your computer, there's a problem with Advanced Power Management. But is the problem in Windows or in your hardware configuration? Check Windows first: Right-click the desktop and select Properties. Click the Screen Saver tab and then the Power button. (In 98 and Me, this button is the 'Settings' button under 'Energy saving....') Click the APM tab (if there is no APM tab, the problem resides in your hardware configuration). Check the Enable Advanced Power Management Support box, and then click OK.

To check your hardware configuration, reboot and then enter your computer's Setup program by pressing a certain key early in the boot-up process (an on-screen message should identify the key). Search the menus for options that will allow you to turn on APM or ACPI (another power-conserving standard).

If you run Windows 2000 or XP and your PC reboots when it's supposed to shut down, the culprit is probably a system failure. These versions of Windows respond to system failures by rebooting, making it look like Windows can't distinguish between Turn Off and Restart. To get to the root of the problem, right-click My Computer and choose Properties. Select the Advanced tab. In Windows XP, click Settings under 'Startup and Recovery', uncheck Automatically restart, and click OK twice. In Windows 2000, click Startup and Recovery, uncheck Automatically reboot, and click OK twice. Now you'll be able to see what's making Windows blow up in your face, and maybe you'll be able to fix it or find a workaround.

How do I delete a file when Windows insists that it's "being used by another person or program"?

Rob Oldenburg, Wellington, Florida

This is easy to do in Windows 98: Select Start, Shut Down, Restart in MS-DOS mode, and then use the del filename command to delete the file from the DOS prompt. To do this, you'll have to know the path to the file on your hard drive. And remember that a file called "Photo of Mary.jpg" in Windows is probably something like photoo~1.jpg in DOS.

You have to boot from your startup floppy disk to accomplish the same thing in Windows Me. If you don't have a startup disk, select Start, Settings, Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs, Startup Disk, and then follow the prompts (be sure to have a blank, formatted floppy disk ready beforehand). If you reboot your computer with the startup disk in the drive, you'll get to a DOS prompt from which you can delete the file.

Unfortunately, you can't exit to DOS in Windows 2000 and XP, so try deleting the file in Safe Mode: Select Start, Turn Off Computer, Restart. During the reboot--and just before Windows loads--press F8 (it may take you a few attempts to get the timing right). Select Safe Mode, and then try to delete the file.

If that doesn't work, download Gibin Software House's GiPo@MoveOnBoot. This free program lets you define files to be copied, moved, or deleted the next time you boot--before Windows loads.

I'm running a dual-boot system with Windows XP and Windows 98. I no longer want to use 98. What steps do I take to remove the dual boot?

George Nowotny, Port Moody, British Columbia

To kill the "Please select the operating system..." menu that comes up every time you boot, load Windows XP, click the Start button, right-click My Computer, and select Properties, Advanced. Choose the Settings button under 'Startup and Recovery'.

If your XP installation isn't listed as the 'Default operating system', select it from the drop-down menu, click OK twice, and reboot. Return to 'Startup and Recovery', and click the Edit button to bring up boot.ini in Notepad. Delete the last line of the file (see FIGURE 2), which should be the unwanted boot option. Save the file, exit Notepad, click OK twice, and reboot. XP should load with no menu. If there's a problem, use System Restore to return to the status quo, and try again.

If you have partitioning software such as Symantec's PartitionMagic, you may want to delete the Windows 98 partition and resize the Windows XP one. But otherwise, don't worry about it. Simply use the Win 98 partition to store backups or for some other purpose.

A reader who asked to remain anonymous requests that I remind readers not to download and install every program they read about in PC World. We recommend only programs that we find useful, of course, but that doesn't mean they're useful to everyone. You may not need a tool for the chore it's designed to do, or you may already have a program that handles it. Remember that every program you download and install clutters your hard drive, and every program that runs in the background slows Windows and increases the likelihood of conflicts.

How can two people use Microsoft Outlook to share data across a network?

Andrew Mace, Birmingham, Alabama

This technique doesn't keep one person's data separate from the other's, and it doesn't work between Outlook 2003 and older versions of the program, but it's free: Open Outlook on the first machine and select File, Import and Export to launch the Import and Export Wizard. Select Export to a file, and then Personal Folder File (.pst). Choose the folder you want to export (you can't select more than one folder, so you'll have to run the wizard separately for each folder you want to move). To export everything, select Personal Folders and check Include subfolders. Save the export in a shared folder that the other computer can access. Once the wizard is finished, exit and reopen Outlook.

Now open Outlook on the second PC, and select File, Import and Export to launch the Import and Export Wizard on that system. Select Import from another program or file; for the file type, click Personal Folder File (.pst). Choose the file you just created on the first PC, and click Replace duplicates with items imported. Click Finish, and the data from the first system merges with that on the second.

If you're willing to spend money for a more elegant solution, you might try Vaita's OsaSync ($37.50), which shares only contacts, or its bigger sibling, OsaSync Pro ($62.50), which shares everything. Go to this link to download either of these programs.

Send your questions to answer@pcworld.com. Answer Line pays $50 for published items. You'll find Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector's humorous writing at www.thelinkinspector.com.