Fix Windows Vista Slow Shutdown

Have you ever felt impatient watching the Windows Vista shutdown screen take its own sweet time? The slow Vista shutdown in a common problem amongst many users, and I've seen some people wait up to 15 minutes staring at the screen for it to complete the shutdown. This should not be happening, and can be fixed.

In some cases, the shutdown will never successfully complete. Even if you wait a day, the shutdown screen will still be there. In such a case, power has to be cut to the computer, risking a loss of data. In fact, depending on which shutdown tasks the computer was performing when the power is cut, Vista may be damaged and may not be able to start up again.

The chief cause of Vista slow shutdown problems is due to problems in the registry. The registry is a very important Windows database that stores important settings and information. As time goes by, errors accumulate in it and the registry bloats up. This causes a performance hit in Vista as well as hiccups during the shutdown process.

Clearly, the registry will need to have maintenance performed on it. Unless you know what to look for in the potentially huge registry, it is much better to let registry cleaners do the job. A registry cleaner is a software that automates the task of scanning the entire registry to look for problems, and then fix these problems. By clearing the registry of errors and bloat, it allows Windows to run smoother, and hence faster. The shutdown process is also streamlined.