Windows 7 Why does windows 7 take forever to shut down

[Steven Ridley]

When shutting windows 7 down it takes forever to actually close. Sometimes it will take three or four miniutes, are there any ways to speed the shutdown up.?

 

[BIGBEARJEDI]

Hi,
Computer slowness is usually caused by one of these things:
1.) Virus/Malware attack
2.) Windows corruption from uninstalled programs or from failed updates
3.) Partial or failing hard drive
4.) Failing or Intermittently failing RAM memory sticks.

Try scanning for viruses with whatever AV program you have installed on your computer. Remove all viruses found. Next, visit malwarebytes.org and download the free antispyware MALWAREBYTES; scan and remove all spyware viruses found. Reboot, login into W7 and shutdown. If the shutdown time is drastically reduced and looks better you had a virus or spyware virus which has been removed an and you are good to go!

If the shutdown slowness continues, you should run windows repairs which you can google, and find the well-documented solutions under windows forums, or seven forums. This can sometimes produce a repair as well.

If the problem still persists you should definitely test your hardware. Or if you have no experience or time to do this, you might consider paying a licensed professional Tech to do for you at your local repair shop. Should you venture into DIY, you can take a look at my free TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE available here for step-by-step easy to follow instructions:
: Windows 10 - Unclickable Task Bar

Keep in mind that if your computer came pre-loaded with W7 from the factory (or older), your computer is or will be 8 years old this year. Modern desktop PC hard drives are only designed to last 3 years no more! Laptop hard drives last no longer than 2 years! Statistically, if you've never replaced the hard drive in your computer and it's going to be 8 years old; you are way overdue. If you've owned this computer since it was new-in-box and have never replaced it, or paid someone to do so, again, you are way overdue.

Checking your RAM memory sticks is also required (as mentioned in my Troubleshooting Guide), as failing RAM stick symptoms closely resemble hard drive failures.

Best of luck. If you get stuck or have more questions, do not hesitate to ask. We are here 24x7x365.

<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>

 

[Joe S]

When shutting windows 7 down it takes forever to actually close. Sometimes it will take three or four miniutes, are there any ways to speed the shutdown up.?

Do you have any automatic backup software running? I ran into this with a WD external drive and their Smartware program. It runs silently in the background and slows shutdown until it finishes the file it's coping.
joe

 

[kemical]

When shutting windows 7 down it takes forever to actually close. Sometimes it will take three or four miniutes, are there any ways to speed the shutdown up.?

Running an sfc scan may help.

Find command prompt, right click on it and run as admin. Type:
sfc /scannow

Press enter and await results.

If it comes back with can't repair files, then run it a few times.

 

[Steven Ridley]

Thank you all for your advice and I apologise for taking so long for replying. I have applied/tried all your suggestions and unfortunately the PC is still taking some time to shutdown. I have ben told that the only sure way to have the system to shutdown quicker is to do a clean install of Windows. I don't really want to do this. I might also state that my computer is running a 480Gb SSD.

 

[kemical]

If I remember back Windows 7 does become a pain shutting down and I'm not sure we ever truly found an effective fix. I'm almost certain I didn't apart from running the os really clean.
What I mean by this is not using any browser or desktop apps and no customisation skins either. The less running means the less it has to shut down and using the os this way I always found my shutdown times quite reasonable.

Edit:

Lol I see Joe has already mentioned this, sorry Joe.. (He is right tho)