Windows 5 min shutdown times.... and IE prob

ever since i got my new setup (*points to sig) using xp pro, it takes FOREVER to shut down the computer, it goes through everything real quick and stalls after it saves the settings... like when it says shutting down the computer... thats when it starts taking forever! any ideas? and does anyone know where i can get detailed info on what each bios firmware updates? asus doesnt provide it... WEIRD! Thanks ya'll

EDIT:
Also, whenever i use any browser, i cant login to AOL anywhere... (grandparents email) like i go to login but it always times out... hmm

 

Do you have lots of useless programs running in the background (crap that loads itself in the system tray).

Try switching some of these off beforehand.

 

XP gives all your programs a certain amount of time to close themselves down 'naturally'... then it kills 'em off by itself if they haven't shutdown in that certain amount of time.

Sounds to me like you got a program that stops responding when you shutdown and it's taking XP a while to properly kill it.

Try erm... killing everything you can (not windows critical processes though) before you shutdown and use emilination to see which one it is... could work

On the other hand, blame Bill, it's what I does

 

Oh and there is a registry hack to decrease the amount of time it waits before it kills the processes that arent responding.

 

nope, the thing is, is the only program running in the backround is hardware monitor... to check my cpu temps... where can i find the reg hack?

 

Sure you aint got norton running ? Thats notorius for taking years to shut down

 

dont even have that on my computer, brand new setup, just got xp pro installed and sisoft sandra but its not running