Steps to improve the shutdown times.

When you shutdown your Windows XP computer, it may take more time to complete the shutdown process. Slow shutdowns are caused by a number of factors. One of the common cause is the Clear Pagefile at Shutdown option enabled.

Some points to improve the shutdown times:

Follow these steps to open registry editor.

1. Click on start and the click on run
   
2. In run dialog box type regedit
   
3. Either press enter or click Ok button on the run dialog
   

Start Registry Editor and navigate to the following key:
[HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]

Set ClearPageFileAtShutdown value to 0.

it it is xp the follow the following steps
When you start to shut down Windows XP, it has to quit, or "kill," any live
applications or processes that are currently running. So close all applications first.
However, some applications and processes are always running in the background.
You can reduce the amount of time that Windows XP waits for those applications and
processes to close before Windows XP kills them.
1. Open registry editor
2. Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Set the
WaitToKillAppTimeout and set the value to 1000. Select the HungAppTimeout
\newline value and set it to 1000 as well.
3. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control.
Select the WaitToKillServiceTimeout value and set it to 10000.
4. Close the Registry Editor.


Memory Tweak
1. Start Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) and locate the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SessionManager\
MemoryManagement\PrefetchParameters
2.On the EnablePrefetcher value, change the setting from 3 to 5 (decimal).
3. Close the registry editor and restart your computer

you need to upgrad your memory speed

To work around this issue, restart your computer in Safe Mode. To restart your computer in Safe Mode, press F8 when the computer starts. Then, when the computer is in Safe Mode, add the System Pages entry to the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory ManagementTo add this registry entry, follow these steps: 1. Log on by using an account that has administrative credentials. 2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. 3. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management 4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD value. 5. Type SystemPages, and then press ENTER. 6. On the Edit menu, click Modify. 7. Click Decimal, type 31000, and then click OK. 8. Quit Registry Editor.