Shuting down is getting slower

[rev_olie]

Hey
im using my laptop quite alot recently for work and things and have had it for about a year and a half. Its a Dell inspiron 1501. Recently ive noticed that its really taking its time these days to shut down. Ive got 5 minutes between lessons for it to turn off and pack away and its taking about 7 minutes to shut down. What could be the reason. I thought it might have been mcafee because people say it slows the system down but thats gone and its not helped. Hope someone solves the problmem

 

[Route44]

Have you scanned recently for viruses, trojans, etc.?

How full is your harddrive?

What security software are you running?

Run chkdsk.

 

[rev_olie]

erm im currently scanning now. Ive got AVG free edition Zone alarms free adaware free and spybot S+D. ALso had a look with tune up utilities. Erm my hard drive is 107GB and its got 72GB left

 

[Route44]

Just so you are aware the Adaware personal edition is no longer being supported with updates. The company discontinued doing so about a month ago.

What tune up utilities are you speaking of?

 

[DelJo63]

Ive got 5 minutes between lessons for it to turn off and pack away and its taking about 7 minutes to shut down. What could be the reason.

frequently this is caused by a network connection that fails to close and is required to timeout.
X number of these times timeout period == way too long for a laptop.

before you shutdown;

1- quit all programs
2- unplug any wired Internet connections
3- close/disconnect any Wireless connects​

now try shutdown and note any difference -- please post back your findings

 

[rev_olie]

oh ok i will try the wireless thing the school does have a wireless network that my laptop tries to connect to so im gessing you will be right on that on will simply stopping my wireless card from connecting to the network automaticly do anything as well?
Cheers as well for letting me know about adaware i had no idea they had stopped that so that good erm so ive now got the free AVG antispyware possibly thinking about paying for the full Adaware because its ben really good to me over the years and im currently using Tune up 2007

 

[Route44]

AVG is considerably better than Adware. If I was going to pay $ for either pro verson AVG hands down any day.

Another excellent product is SUPERantispyware. The name may sound dorky but the protection is excellent. The only thing with SAS is that their free version stops after 30 days and they aren't quite Vista ready yet (if you have Vista).

 

[rev_olie]

yer ive tried SUPERanti spyware before and it did do some good actually but like you said ther version runs out. But it is definatlye a fight between AVG and Adaware becuase ive tried like the Zone alarm all in one security and the Mcafee all in one but it either slowed the pc down alot or it didnt give me enough protection for the money you had to pay. Also ive had a look at shutting down again and ive disabled the wirelss adapter shut down AVG and also turned off Zone alarm on shut down but it still hasnt done alot of good so do you have any other ideas?

 

[Route44]

The question that arises for me is that did those security softwares fully uninstall. There may be remnants of McAfee and ZA that are causing conflicts. Norton is notorious for letting things behind even after an uninstall. I wonder if that is the case here.

And, yes, ZA is well known for the slowdowns.

How much RAM do you have?

 

[Bobbye]

You might also consider stand alone security programs instead of 'suites'. You could have AVG anti-virus program, Spybot Search & Destroy, AdAware 2007 and the Zone Alarm firewall. It is my preference to use the stand alone programs. I've done well with them on two systems for several years:

AVG Free Anti-virus:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-anti-virus/us/frt/0

Free, good spyware/adware programs:
For Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/

For Ad-Aware 2007- Free:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

Spyware Blaster:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

Zone Alarm Firewall- free:
http://www.zonealarm.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp

 

[rev_olie]

erm ive got 1 GB of RAM currently in my machine. How wil i be able to find the reminants of the Mcafee suite thaty i currently installed if there are any on my PC?

 

[Bobbye]

I'd like to bring out a couple of points here. One of the most obvious reasons for a delayed shutdown is application hang. This means that something that started when you booted and has been running in the background, isn't releasing the system in a timely manner.

This is easily found by preparing your system for shutdown, but don't shut down. Instead:
Right click on the Taskbar> Task Manager> double click on top frame of CPU column to sort in descending order. The only processes you should see running are System Idle, taskmgr and possibly System. Together they = 100% of the CPU. Any other process over 1 or 2 is what's hanging. The process can be identified, then unchecked on the Startup menu in msconfig.

The only processes you need to start at boot are the AV, firewall, touchpad if laptop and network process if there is a network. Anything else can be called up as needed.

To help with the ID, use these databases:
STARTUP APPLICATION DATABASE LIST
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

As for removing 'left over' McAfee files, do a search in your system,. Start with the obvious McAfee. Here is the "M" page from answersthatwork tasklist. It will help you recognize these processes:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist_m.htm

 

[rev_olie]

wow thanks for that you wont believe how much help those pages will be. I will also have a look next time on the taskmanager to see what it could be thats slowing it down. Cheers again