Here’s a cool hack i found that will help you speed up your Windows XP shutdown process. It involves modifying the registry, so make sure you backup your registry before implementing the procedure i specified below.

When you attempt to shut down Windows XP, you’ll get a warning message telling you to shut down the currently running applications.The message is displayed for each and every running program. This is annoying (to say the least) and slows your computer shutdown process.

Won’t it be cool to tell XP to automatically kill all running programs without warning you when shutting down?

Note that the implementation of this tweak involves the manipulation of the Windows Registry.

Remember! If you use the registry editor incorrectly, you might cause serious problems that might require you to reinstall your operating system. Use the registry editor at your own risk.

1. Backup the registry file. Use instructions provided in section 2 here.

2. Click Start , click Run and type Regedit to open your Registry Editor.

3. Go to Start>>Run >> Regedit. This will open the Registry Editor.

4. Expand the Registry Editor tree and find the node HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop.

5. Edit the AutoEndTasks key so that it has a value of 1. If the key doesn’t exist, create it as a DWORD value and give it the value of 1.

6. Close the Registry Editor.

7. To disable this hack, either delete the AutoEndTasks key or set its value to 0.

Enjoy!

[tags] PC Hacks, Computer Shutdown [/tags]

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Posted by Gili

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10 Comments

10 Responses to “Your computer’s shutdown is slow ? Look at this cool hack.”

1. on 02 Apr 2007 at 4:59 am1Thilak

   Great hack! I’ll leave a trackback on this post!

2. on 02 Apr 2007 at 6:54 am2Speed Up Windows XP Shutdown

   […] from AVirtualExit.com has discovered a registry hack which automatically kills non-responding apps instantly without interrupting the shutdown process. […]

3. on 02 Apr 2007 at 7:06 am3PaulGuise

   Really nifty. Ill give it a go.
   I don’t really shut down my main system, but my laptops should benifit from this.

   Cheers

4. on 02 Apr 2007 at 11:10 am4Brown Baron

   Aha! I always get impatient waiting for my computer to shutdown. Now I don’t have to wait, thanks.

5. on 02 Apr 2007 at 5:33 pm5Madhur Kapoor

   Nice tip , i am going to see whether it works in Vista or not .

6. on 02 Apr 2007 at 9:26 pm6T?ng t?c quá trình t?t máy tính (shutdown) trên Windows XP » Phaphuong’s Weblog

   […] t? AVirtualExit.com  ?ã khám phá registry hack  t? ??ng gi?t các ?ng d?ng không h?at ??ng mà không ?nh h??ng t?i quá […]

7. on 13 Apr 2007 at 9:49 am7Linu

   it was a very useful tips

8. on 22 May 2007 at 5:51 am8Web 2.0, PC Tweaks @ AVirtualExit.com » Blog Archive » How to speed up my PC for free ?

   […] I explained this tweak here. […]

9. on 03 Jun 2007 at 9:05 pm9Web 2.0, PC Tweaks @ AVirtualExit.com » Blog Archive » How to speed up computer shutdown ?

   […] Some time ago i introduced you to a nifty trick that you should use in order to speed up things in case that your computer shutdown is slow. […]

10. on 01 Jul 2007 at 2:21 am10Speed Up Windows XP Shutdown

    […] you either manually kill the task or wait for Windows to kill it. Gili from AVirtualExit.com has discovered a registry hack which automatically kills non-responding apps instantly without interrupting the shutdown process. […]

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