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I recently got a Dell 1011 netbook as a gift and have found out that it doesn't shut down properly most of the time. When I give the shutdown command, the blue screen appears that says 'Windows is shutting down' and it just sits there and then I have to perform a force shut down.

The OS is Windows XP SP3. I have a hunch that the problem is caused by Norton 360 which is installed (not the trial) but am not sure. The person who gave it to me is not very tech savvy. Which might explain why he paid all that money to put Norton 360, one of the heaviest AV suites available on a Intel atom powered mouse.

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Anyway, any help would be much appreciated because if I keep forcing the shut downs every time, the thing is sure to blow up. Cheers.

Tina
2010-05-20 20:29:00
Uttaradhaka,were you able to fix the faulty shutdown of your Dell computer? Please let us know how you did it and what the problem was! Thank you!
Johnathan TheTool Lane
2010-04-22 13:55:00
It is most likely a registry issue. For example, the guy above mentioned a device driver issue. Besides viruses, trojans, etc. bad drivers tend to do "bad things" to a registry. You could try restoring your computer to a previous date. I would go back as far as you possibly can. If that doesn't work a clean install would probably be your best bet. Don't bother with registry cleaner software. Any software that is actually good costs too much money and the free programs wont register that specific registry problem. Some of the other options posted above may also work, but a clean install would probably do you some good anyway. Cheers
Mike Normandin
2010-04-20 23:59:00
I would say that a program is causing it to "hang up". Try running "msconfig", just click start then run and type msconfig. This will take you to the start-up programs and services. Under Normal Start-up you will find all of the programs running. You can try to disable one at a time and then restart your computer. Eventually you will find the program causing the problem. Once you locate it, uninstall it and restart your computer.
Taty
2010-04-17 18:27:00
I would scan the OS driver, using windows scan disk. If that doesn't solve the issue, why not uninstall Norton ( since as you said yourself, it's a hog), go for some free anti-virus, such as avg and see if that solves the issue.
Aibek
2010-04-19 18:48:00
If you decide to go with a free anti-virus, make sure to check out The 10 Best Free Anti-Virus Programs .
Saikat Basu
2010-04-17 10:45:00
Sometimes, it's an application that doesn't quit and it forces Windows to hang while shutting down. Sometimes it's also caused by a device driver. You can try manually shutting down Norton first from the task manager or the program itself and see if its the one causing the problem. You can also try the free Microsoft Utility called User Profile Hive Cleanup Service [Broken Link Removed] and see if it solves the problem. Do read the documentation of the app first.