Shut down Windows in an instant
The other evening I turned off my Windows XP system and busied myself with other matters, only to find the machine churning away several minutes later as it worked through its shutdown process. I could've understood the delay if it were installing updates, or even if some program or service had hung the system. But this was a typical PC shutdown, and it was taking forever.
"There's gotta be a better way," I thought, and after doing a little research, I found a bunch of Registry tweaks that reset Windows to close shop like it's late for the bus ride home. Keep in mind, any changes to the Registry can be troublesome, so you may want to make these alterations one or two at a time just to make sure they don't futz up the works (it'll also be easier to diagnose any problems that may arise). And for sure back up the Registry by creating a restore point before you begin.
Kill your apps
Some programs just don't know how to say goodbye. To speed up force-closing them at shutdown, open the Registry Editor (in Vista, press the Windows key, type regedit, and press Enter; in XP, click Start > Run, type regedit, and press Enter), and navigate in the left pane to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/desktop (or Desktop). Double-click WaitToKillAppTimeout in the right pane, and change the value data (measured in milliseconds) to 1000-if you're in a real hurry--or something larger, if you want to give your recalcitrant apps a little more time to call it quits. Click OK when you're done.
Use this Registry key to reduce the number of milliseconds you want Windows to wait before killing apps at shutdown.
(Credit: Microsoft)To reduce the wait before forcing hung applications to close, double-click HungAppTimeout in the right pane of the same key, and change the value data to 2000, or however many milliseconds you want to give the apps to unhang on their own. Of course, a better approach is to figure out why the app is hanging in the first place; I'll cover diagnosing hung applications in a future post: Stay tuned!
You may also want to change the value data of WaitToKillAppTimeout and HungAppTimeout in HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT/Control Panel/Desktop key to apply the changes to all users on the system.
Clip your running tasks and services
There's another Registry key that automatically ends running tasks at shutdown. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop, double-click AutoEndTasks in the right pane, and change the value data to 1. Now to whack your slow-ending services, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control, double-click WaitToKillServiceTimeout in the right pane, change the value to 1000, and click OK.
Some people will tell you that you can speed up shutdowns by telling Windows not to clear the pagefile when it closes. Unfortunately, this could compromise your system security because sensitive data may be stored in the file unencrypted. There's even some question about whether disabling this setting will save you any time at shutdown. For me, the possibility of saving a couple of seconds on shutdown isn't worth the risk. That's why I recommend that you leave the ClearPageFileAtShutdown value at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control/SessionManager/Memory Management at 1.
Some Vista systems (including mine) don't have all the Registry key entries described above. To add a missing entry, right-click in the right pane of its key, choose New > String Value, type the name, such as AutoEndTasks, double-click the new entry, add its value data (1 in the case of AutoEndTasks), and click OK.
Tomorrow: create multiple workspaces in Ubuntu.
Dennis O'Reilly has covered PCs and other technologies in print and online since 1985. Along with more than a decade as editor for Ziff-Davis's Computer Select, Dennis edited PC World's award-winning Here's How section for more than seven years. He is a member of the CNET blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. 
I have an XP box on my desk at work and this kind of stuff fills my day and it is truly frustrating. I have a hard time understanding why people choose Windows when Mac is so much better.
Once upon a time, people thought Macs were more expensive, not true. Once upon a time, people thought Macs were slower, completely not true.
Can't say I blame them, but one of the biggest shutdown problems I've noticed is Microsoft Outlook. If it is closed prior to shutting down Windows it saves a ton of time.
Though, I have to agree with you on MS Outlook. I tend to try to avoid Outlook from the get-go (thunderbird could replace it for a lot of people).
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1b286e6d-8912-4e18-b570-42470e2f3582&displaylang=en
I have found it to be very helpful with speeding up the shutdown of Win2K and WinXP.
When I shut down my PC, I get up from the desk and go do something else. I don't care how long it's taking to shut down.
This is like obsessing over how long it takes your car to cool off after shutting off the ignition.
Windows (mainly Vista) has far more serious issues to be dealt with so let's worry about those.
http://www.thetechpedia.com/2008/03/26/how-to-shutdown-computer-in-5-seconds/
However, the Mac Cult is so annoying I must comment. "just use MAC OS and you won't have those problems"
Whatever. It's still a $%^&* computer. With vulnerabilities that will need remedy. For instance, try this on for size:
http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=207000434
Your Mac was hacked, and Linux and Windows are still standing. In any case, I'm sure a patch will fix it.
With Mac gaining market share (for good reason, they make a great product) on Microsoft, and more companies writing software for Macs, and more hardware being designed for them, the simple fact is we will see more "computer" type problems like the one in this article in Macs as well as hackers writing viruses for Mac OS. It's really only "safer" right now because it isn't as tasty a target as Windows. The real problem is that there is a cavalier atitude with those who drank the Mac Kool-Aid that they are invulnerable. I've heard them BRAG that they refuse to put any anti-virus software on their computer. For this reason, I think Mac OS will take a hard hit at first in the near future as a result of this popularity boom of the Mac OS, as the users learn the lesson the hard way (the way Windows users already learned it in the late 90's). My advice: Mac's are sweet computers. But there are just computers, so get ready for some patches now and then, and mix in some anti-spyware and anti-virus whether you think you need it now or not. The internet will be a safer place for all.
By the way, what about the Time Machine debacle...or the Leapord upgrade hassles. That's what happens with all computers.
You may take it from my site toycatsoft.com.
http://www.pupuweb.com/blog/various-ways-to-shutdown-computer-windows/