Fast Shutdown XP And Vista:

Have you ever wondered why the damn computer becomes standstill when you tell it to shutdown? Some people has noticed that Vista takes as
long as 5 minutes to shutdown and recently I experienced the same. But with the help of a simple tweak we can achieve our goal of shutting down Windows Vista or Windows XP in less than a minute.Here is the tweak and explanation of the tweak to quickly shutdown your Windows Vista based PC. and
For Windows XP Users:
Note: Before editing the registry, please take a back up of it. It is quite simple and can be done by clicking file > Export in registry editor menu and putting the file name of the backup and clicking on save.

1. Click on Start and Type regedit in the search box and hit Enter.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER >> Control Panel >> Desktop
3. Look at the right pane to locate the key WaitToKillAppTimeout, double click on it and change the value to something between 4000 and 5000. (Lesser the value more quicker will be shutdown, the value is in milliseconds).
4. Click on Ok and the settings will be saved.

The key WaitToKillAppTimeout determines how long the system waits for user processes to end after the user attempts to log off or to shut down. When the time specified in this entry expires, the End Task dialog box appears, stating that the process did not respond. So now we need to do some tweak so that end task dialog box will not appear. Right? The key responsible for this is AutoEndTasks.
In registry editor Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER >> Control Panel >> Desktop
Look for AutoEndTasks key in the right pane and double click on it. The default value will be 0, change it to 1. Click on OK. This will not display the end task dialog box.
For Vista Users:
The key WaitToKillAppTimeout is replaced by WaitToKillServiceTimeout in Vista and the location has also changed.

1. In Vista navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl
2. In right pane, look for WaitToKillServiceTimeout and double click on it. Change the value to around 5000. Click on OK.

Test your shutdown speed now and let me know if it really become quicker.