"Windows was not properly shut down"

On 27-Dec-2009, "Brian W" wrote:

Is there a way to shut the computer down that guarantees not to get this
error? it shows in the Event Log as 'The last shutdown at time was
unexpected'

Maybe there is a badly written program running the process for
which resists shutting down. First thing is to use Task Manager
to see what user apps are running and kill them, then see if there
are any processes that you do not recognise. Most processes
can be looked up online if you are not sure what they are, kill
any non-MS ones, like Skype, anti-virus, firewall, etc
(disconnect from the internet if you are paranoid about losing
their protection for a few minutes).
The msconfig command lets you disable things that run at startup,
so disable non-MS items.
You should be able to find what is interfering with shutdown.
If it doesn't Google for windows shutdown fails, you are not
alone, and it seems that a lot of Dell users have this problem,
but then Dell is noted for being a law unto itself, with customised
versions of hardware and software, a right pain in the butt for
upgraders.
From there on if stll having problems you need process monitors,
and kill process utilities, to debug it.
Has the problem always been there?
Is it legit MS software?
Have you a decent virus, trojan, rootkit scanner?
If the problem suddenly appeared then it may be due to
something you installed, or some malware you picked up.

Ato_Zee wrote:
On 27-Dec-2009, "Brian W"
wrote:

Is there a way to shut the computer down that guarantees not to get
this error? it shows in the Event Log as 'The last shutdown at
time was unexpected'

Maybe there is a badly written program running the process for
which resists shutting down. First thing is to use Task Manager
to see what user apps are running and kill them, then see if there
are any processes that you do not recognise. Most processes
can be looked up online if you are not sure what they are, kill
any non-MS ones, like Skype, anti-virus, firewall, etc
(disconnect from the internet if you are paranoid about losing
their protection for a few minutes).
The msconfig command lets you disable things that run at startup,
so disable non-MS items.
You should be able to find what is interfering with shutdown.
If it doesn't Google for windows shutdown fails, you are not
alone, and it seems that a lot of Dell users have this problem,
but then Dell is noted for being a law unto itself, with customised
versions of hardware and software, a right pain in the butt for
upgraders.
From there on if stll having problems you need process monitors,
and kill process utilities, to debug it.
Has the problem always been there?
Is it legit MS software?
Have you a decent virus, trojan, rootkit scanner?
If the problem suddenly appeared then it may be due to
something you installed, or some malware you picked up.

Another thought is to bring the computer up in the Windows Safe Mode and see
how it handles powering down from there. If it works well in the safe mode
and the problem persists in the normal mode then as already mentioned you
may have a program that is refusing to shutdown properly or have picked up
some kind of malware. The safe mode does not load most optional drivers or
allow startup programs to activate.