Earlier this week, I described some Registry tweaks that force Windows to shut down faster. Another weapon in the fight against interminable shutdowns in XP is Microsoft's User Profile Hive Cleanup service, a free download written by Robin Caron.
Some programs and services don't release their connections to Registry keys when a user logs off. This can cause problems when the person tries to log onto another PC connected to the same company network, but mainly it just adds to the time it takes XP to shut down.
Before you can download the program, you have to let Microsoft validate your copy of Windows. (The program also works with Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003.) To install the program automatically, you have to have a copy of Windows Installer 2.0 on your system. Otherwise you can install it manually: Open a command prompt (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt), type cd \program files\uphclean, press Enter, type uphclean -install, and press Enter again. The program will start automatically the next time the system boots. Type exit and press Enter once more to close the command-prompt window.
Bonus shutdown-troubleshooting tip
The other day I decided for no good reason that it was time to update my 6-year-old XP system's video driver. I just happened to be visiting my display adapter's entry in Device Manager (right-click My Computer, choose Manage > Device Manager, double-click the entry under Display adapters, and select the Driver tab) and noticed that the driver was almost 5 years old. The fact that the adapter itself was 6 years old never crossed my mind.
(Quick aside: Is six years about as much useful life as you can expect from a PC? This system has been through the ringer since I use it as one of my test machines. But I've got two radios that are more than 20 years old, and they work just fine. Still, it may be time to retire this graybeard before it retires on me.)
I checked the vendor's download site and saw that the company recommended a replacement driver for that ancient model. The lure of free software was irresistible.
After I downloaded and installed the new driver, everything seemed to be working just fine, until I shut down Windows. That's when the PC restarted unexpectedly. I recognized this as a symptom of trouble, and sure enough, when Windows reloaded it ran a disk check. Though the check didn't indicate any disk errors, I was warned that Windows had recovered from a "serious error."
I started the troubleshooting process by stopping the automatic restarts: Right-click My Computer, choose Properties > Advanced, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, and uncheck Automatically restart. The next time I shut down I saw the blue screen displaying the error codes. A Web search of the code confirmed my suspicions, though a bad video driver was only one of several possibilities as the source of this error code.
Uncheck 'Automatically restart' in Windows XP's Startup and Recovery dialog box to view the error code causing the shutdown problem.
(Credit: Microsoft)Using XP's Roll Back Driver option didn't fix the problem, so I chose Uninstall instead. The next time I restarted XP, it started at the video adapter's lowest resolution, but after I readjusted it to the previous setting, the display appeared unchanged. When I reopened the display adapter's entry in Device Manager, it was back to the original driver version, but the shutdown error disappeared, and Disk Check didn't run the next time XP started.
Like they say, don't try fixing what ain't broke.
Monday: backup online for free.
A prolonged legal fight with the movie industry has forced TorrentSpy, BitTorrent's popular search engine, to shut down.
"The legal climate in the USA for copyright, privacy of search requests, and links to torrent files in search results is simply too hostile," said a note on TorrentSpy's front door. "We spent the last two years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, defending the rights of our users and ourselves... we now feel compelled to provide the ultimate method of privacy protection for our users - permanent shutdown."
In 2006, the largest Hollywood film studios accused TorrentSpy in a lawsuit of encouraging movie piracy. A federal judge ordered the company last June to provide the studios with user information found in its computer RAM.
TorrentSpy, often used by file sharers to find bootleg films, tried a series of legal maneuvers in an attempt to protect the anonymity of visitors. In August, the company cut off access to residents of the United States, presumably to avoid complying with the court order.
In December, the judge in the case found that TorrentSpy operators intentionally destroyed evidence in the case, making it impossible for the Motion Picture Association of America to get a fair trial. They had earlier been fined $30,000 for violations of discovery orders and were warned of severe sanctions if they continued to ignore the orders.
The judge ruled against TorrentSpy, which meant that all the company could do was argue over the amount of damages. From that point on, it appeared as if TorrentSpy's days were numbered.
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.
Windows breaks; it's a fact. Sometimes the only fix you need is a system restart, but other times you may feel like you'll never get your PC working again. While not even a building full of Microsoft engineers can promise solutions to every Windows problem, these tips will help you begin your quest for a cure.
Windows won't update
First, make sure you're logged into an administrator account. Next, open the Windows Update log, which is at C:\Windows\Windows Update.log, and look for an error message, which may include an error code you can search for in Microsoft's knowledge bases. (Make sure you have Windows set to show hidden files: Open Windows Explorer, and in XP, click Tools>Folder Options>View>Show hidden files and folders; in Vista, click Organize>Folder and Search Options>View>Show hidden files and folders.)
Scan your Windows Update log file for clues to your system's update failures.
Now visit the Windows Update Troubleshooter and browse around for an entry relating to the error. If nothing on this page solves the problem, try disabling your antivirus and anti-spyware programs, your firewall, and any Web accelerators you've installed before going to the Windows Update page. Just be sure to reactivate your security programs before you browse anywhere else.
If you're still unable to update Windows, here are three more things you can try:
Check your clock to make sure your PC is set to the correct time and date. Double-click the time in the bottom-right corner of the screen to open the Date and Time Properties dialog box (in Vista, click Change date and time settings).
Log into another administrator account and try to update. If you don't have two administrator accounts, open the User Accounts Control Panel applet, click Create a new account (in Vista, select Manage Another Account first), and step through the wizard, choosing Computer administrator as the account type (Administrator in Vista).
Start Windows in Safe Mode and retry the update. To enter Safe Mode, press F8 after your PC starts but before Windows loads, and choose Safe Mode from the resulting menu.
You'll find more update-troubleshooting options on DTS-L.org's Windows Update Checklist.
The Registry has gone haywire
The fastest and simplest way to repair a garbled Registry is via Windows' System Restore: In XP, click Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore>Restore my computer to an earlier time (likely selected by default)>Next. Choose a restore point on the calendar, and step through the wizard. In Vista, press the Windows key, type "system restore," and press Enter. Vista recommends a restore point; if you approve, click Next>Finish. Otherwise, click Choose a different restore point>Next, make your selection, and step through the wizard.
Vista's System Restore applet chooses a restore point for you, or you can opt to select another.
You always have to be careful when you make changes to the Registry, which is why you should triple-check any Registry-cleaning utilities before you use them. One that has been around for a while is TweakNow's RegCleaner Standard (the company also offers a $27 Professional version).
Windows doesn't know when to quit
Sometimes Windows reboots when you only want it to turn off. This may be caused by the OS thinking a shutdown is actually a crash, which it is programmed to respond to by restarting. To disable this feature, right-click My Computer (Computer in Vista), choose Properties>Advanced (Properties>Advanced system settings>Advanced in Vista), and click Settings under Startup and Recovery. Uncheck Automatically restart under System failure, and click OK.
Stop Windows from restarting automatically after a crash by unchecking Automatically restart in the Startup and Recovery Settings dialog box.
This doesn't address the cause of the "crashes", however. A primary reason for such failures is a hardware or software conflict, so if you've recently installed some device or program, check the vendor's Web site for updated firmware or a new driver (more on fixing hardware conflicts tomorrow).
If your shutdowns are just slow, Windows may be clearing your virtual memory and system-hibernation cache (sleep mode in Vista) when it closes, which adds considerably to the shutdown process. To reset this option, click Start>Run (in Vista, simply press the Windows key), type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to open the Group Policy Editor. Navigate in the left pane to Computer Configuration>Windows Settings>Security Settings>Local Policies>Security Options, double-click Shutdown: Clear virtual memory pagefile, choose Disabled (if it isn't selected already), and click OK.
Tomorrow: Remedies for Windows networking and hardware failures.
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