Problems when Logging Off

It seems that on a regular basis when I log off my account, XP shows a message saying that it is Ending Program Internet Exlporer, or ending program Webroot Spysweeper.
It doesn't affect much but it really slows down the logging off part and I don't understand why the programs don't shutdown on their own like Zone Alarm, Norton and MSN Messenger do.
Also most of the time Internet Explorer was already closed by me earlier and it did not show any messages saying it wasn't responding or anything

 

Hi jordoe28,
Hmmm, 31 views into your post, without a response, would indicate to me that there may be "past posts, pinned stickies, or windowsbbs articles" related to your posted question. Since I'm guilty of not searching for these myself, I can't say, for sure, that they exist or if this is why your post has been left response-less. If you haven't looked for or searched this boards/site for references to your problem, you may wish to do so. In the mean time, let's see if I can throw together a few paragraphs and toss in some links that should at least give you some idea of why shutdown program hangs or a slight time lag in closing a slower/busy process, happens.

The following is a little fact/factor information:
XP is "multitasking multithreading" (can do many things seemingly at once). "32-bit applications/games start in protected mode" and are allocated a separate memory space. This makes them less prone to freeze/hang/lag (in theory anyway). On the other hand, "older 16-bit Windows apps" and "DOS programs ", run in a dedicated "Virtual DOS Machine" (a.k.a. VDM, DOS session/box/window) and are more likely to freeze/hang/lag Windows, especially upon shut down.

By default when Windows shuts down, each running process is given up to 20 seconds to perform cleanup work. If a process does not respond within this time-out period, Windows displays the "Wait, End Task, or Cancel" dialog box for the process, which may prompt you to wait for another 20 seconds, stop the process, or cancel the shutdown process. This is to give any running process/program the time it needs, to do the things it needs to, to quit or exit by its self. If it is slow (needs more time) or hangs, windows gives you the opportunity to wait for more time or end/kill it. Of course you risk data loss or corruption if you opt to kill/force it to quit. Sometimes you have no choice since the program may have hung up or stopped responding by it's self. Without going into detail, this is due to variety of reason's. Two of which I previously mentioned. Another may be that a co-application needed by a running process is unavailable (either crashed, is busy, or shutdown/endtasked/exited etc.) Badly written, fussy software, device/drivers, etc. can be other factors. All of the above fall under the heading of "shutdown issues ".

If this is random or infrequent, it may be better to put up with it. We all "have had" and "expect" programs that lock_up/hang once in a while. We even put up with it, when it's older and fussy but is still a favorite. A closer look needs to be done when it happens regularly or routinely. <--Causes vary ie; cache/memory related, bad or corrupt memory segments (read/write problems), corrupted missing files etc.

If this is specific to a particular program you need to put the program under the microscope. Support site, update, patch, look for known issues, workarounds, compatibility conflicts, consider looking for another program, or just stop using the program altogether. Perhaps it's just the combination of programs you have running at the time that's an issue.

Keeping the above and this MS KB example: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=305788 in mind and knowing that Microsoft has actually issued past updates to increase the timetokill in order to address issues where things (processes, programs, cache read/writes, devices/drivers) needed additional time to properly shutdown on their own, there are tweaks that can applied. Be aware of the risks and dangers should you try to tweak/make_changes yourself. Do your homework. Read carefully the readmes, articles and links. Get a good "fundamental groundwork knowledge base" on this.

Your on your own from here. Please use caution in any changes you may decide to experiment with. Your going to have to judge for yourself.

Sites to help and to offer tweak to-do's:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowshutdown.htm
http://www.mdgx.com/newtip11.htm

To sum up
Note the cautions!!! If using any time sensitive or critical applications (i.e. MS Exchange, DNS, SQL), you may want to increase or leave those numbers unchanged, to avoid possible system errors, lockups, and/or data loss. In other words decreasing this time, for a faster shutdown, may not be such a good idea.

I won't tell you what I've done or not done. I don't want to influence your decision or prevent you from reading.