My computer takes 5 minutes to shutdown.

Tip #1 : Too many unnecessary programs running in the background

Try to stop unnecessary programs during booting.

1. Open your Start menu.
2. Click Run
3. In the command screen type "msconfig.exe"
4. In the system configuration utility,click either service or startup tab.
5. Uncheck all programs that your are no longer want to run in the background.
6. Click OK

Tip # 2 - Disorganized and fragmented files

When you shutdown the computer tries to read all the files running in the background, before stopping them. But when you delete, rewrite, copy or move a file very frequently that may slow down the computer to read files. So de-fragmentation is necessary.

To defragment :
1. Open the Start Menu
2. Click on My Computer
3. Right Click your C: drive or your hard drive image.
4. Scroll down to the Properties and Click
5. In the Properties Menus, Open the Tools menu.
6. Choose Defragment Now.

Tip #3 : Paging file (Pagefile.sys) size may be too large

paging file (Pagefile.sys) is a hidden file on your computer's hard disk that Windows XP uses as if it were random access memory (RAM). Therefore this file can be huge. On shutdown it must be cleared. This can cause very slow computer shutdown. We can avoid this by instructing our computer to not close this file during shutdown.Warning this a a dangerous tip because you to edit your manually registry. This can cause serious damage. A registry cleaner may be able to perform this function for you.

To instruct XP to not to close pagefile.sys
1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type regedit.exe
4. Find the folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControlSession ManagerMemory
5. At this point you will see a list of files, Double click on Clear Page File At Shutdown
6. Change the value of the paging file to "0"

Tip #4: Check Your Device Drivers

When your computer shutdown, the operating system must disengage from all your hardware devices. This action allows the devices to power off. If the device has error or cannot be find the device, Windows will have a very slow shutdown or even hang forever. Updating the driver or troubleshooting it may eliminate this problem.Check your device drivers for any errors which are indicated by an yellow exclamation mark or an X. Following the below instructions to evaluate the driver::

1.Click “Start”
2.Click “Control Panel”
3.Click “System”
4.In the System menu, click the “hardware” tab
5.Click Device Manager to bring up a full list of installed
hardware drivers.
6.Right click and choose “Properties” to evaluate the status and troubleshoot the hardware device.

At this point, you can either delete the driver or update it. If you choose to delete the driver, when you restart your computer, Windows will search for a driver to replace it. It may replace it with a more suitable driver or request that you download a new one.