Hi Tim thanks for the response - see below:

"Tim Meddick" wrote in message ...
When your computer is running normally, open a Window's Command Prompt
(choose "Start" "Programs" "Accessories" "Command Prompt" ...or type
"CMD.EXE" into the "Run" box on the Start Menu).

Then, type the following into the Command Prompt and press [ENTER] -

tasklist tasklist.txt

...then locate the new file [tasklist.txt] and open it, copy and paste it's
contents into another post here.

This bit did not work. On following your instructions above I received this error:

"tasklist is not recognised as an internal or external command, operable program or batchfile"

But, meanwhile, you could try setting the following registry entry :


REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"AutoEndTasks"="1"


...(to automatically set the reg-entry - copy / paste the above text into a
plain text file and rename it giving it a *.reg extension, then you can
simply double-click and press [ok] to import the setting)

The above registry entry was set to zero. On restting it to 1 as you advised the problem appears to have gone away (worked ok on the first couple of trials).

Thanks very much for your help.

Graham.

"Graham" wrote in message
...
System: XP home SP3, Anti Virus: Avast File, Backup: Seagate utility on
portable hard drive.

Up until about two weeks ago simply clicking on the "Turn Off Computer"
icon followed by clicking on the "Turn Off" icon shutdown my machine. In
the intervening period both the antivirus and backup software have been
automatically updated. Following their updates I now have to repeat the
"Turn Off Computer"/"Turn Off" procedure twice. Nothing seems to happen
first time round.

I have run the Avast virus checker, MalwareBytes and SpyBot Search and
Destroy and all show my machine to be clean.

Any ideas as to why I am now having to go through the shutdown procedure
twice? If so how do I fix it?