Step 3: Reduce the wait time to kill open applications.

When you choose to shutdown your computer, Windows will automatically wait a little bit before it kills applications that are open. Here we will show you how to reduce the wait time.

Go to the Start menu and then select Run. In the Run box type in ‘regedit’ and click on OK. Navigate to 'HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop' and double click on the 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'. Change the value to 1000 and click on OK. Double click on 'HungAppTimeout' and change the value to 1000 then click on OK. Navigate to 'HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelDesktop' nd double click on the 'WaitToKillAppTimeout'. Change the value to 1000 and click on OK. Double click on 'HungAppTimeout' and change the value to 1000 then click on OK.

{mosgoogle}Step 4: Reduce the wait time for services to be shutdown.

Much like applications, Windows XP waits a bit for the services to shutdown before it starts killing them. Here is how to reduce the wait time.

Go to the Start menu and then select Run. In the Run box type in ‘regedit’ and click on OK. Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetControl'. Double click on 'WaitToKillServiceTimeout' and change the value to 1000 then click on OK.

Step 5: The ONE click shutdown

More mouse clicks equals more time. That’s right, why go to start then click on shutdown and select shutdown. It seems like too much work for me. Here is a tutorial on how to make a shutdown shortcut on your desktop.

Right click on your desktop and select new then shortcut. Now you will see the New Shortcut wizard. Under the location for this item type ‘SHUTDOWN -s -t 01’ then click on Next. Give the shortcut a name, I like Shutdown. Then click on Finish.

Just as a quick note you can do the same for a quick restart just enter in ‘SHUTDOWN -r -t 01’ as the location and then you are all set.

Need more tips? http://www.HowdidYa.com is an always growing how to portal for Windows, Linux, Mac OS and Hardware.