After re-installing my Windows little while ago, i ran into the old problem that most computers have and that is the shut down that takes so long.

To fix that you need to do two things :

1) Go to Run, type Regedit and open the registry editor.

Now, find the following key : “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop” and select HungupAppTimeout; double click on it and modify the value to 1000. Click OK.

Next, scroll a bit down on the same key and find WaitToKillAppTimeout ; double click on it and modify the value to 1000. Click OK.

Next, find the following key : “HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop” and look for HungupAppTimeout and WaitTo killAppTimeout and modify their values to 1000, just like above. Click OK .

And last on the registry…

Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control and modify the last key WaitToKillServiceTimeout to 1000. Click ok and close the registry editor.

Do not put the values lower than 1000 because you might get troubles later.

2) Go to Microsoft.com.

Download and install User Profile Hive Cleanup (requires validation of your Windows).

Once installed, this little app will make sure that all sessions on log-off or shutdown are completely terminated.

You can find more information about it on the Microsoft web site.

You’re done. Now you can restart your computer for changes to take effect.