Inspiron 5100 and shutdown issues

I have had this laptop for almost 2 years now.

I have all factory setup in it for hardware except a 512mb stick of RAM and a 5400rpm 40g HDD. These components have been in the system forquite a few months now with no issues.

Up until the last month or so, my system takes a VERY LONG time to shutdown. I will click shutdown or restart and it will seem like it is doing it and even kill some of the processes running at the moment as if it were shutting down. However, it will not shutdown. I can click start/turn off computer/shutdown or restart numerous time and it will still not do it. after about 3 minutes, no lie, it will finally go through the shutdown screen. During this time I can access the shutdown menu, if I click to open another application, it will tell me that it cannot because the system is shutting down.

I am running WinXP Pro. I have done a restore operation to before a time I remember when it shutdown quickly and it will do it no problem. If I turn on the computer the next time and shutdown, it will revert back to the way it was before restoring it, when the system takes about 3-4 minutes to actually shutdown from the click of the mouse on shutdown option.

Anyone know what the heck is going on?!

First guess is adware/spyware/trojan. Second is a failed process that's been stuck since bootup but only becomes an issue when windows tries to terminate it (hence why it happens at shutdown). Third, corruption that leads to a simialr situation as #2. Fourth, gremlins. No kidding, and they're a ***** if you get them wet!

If you've been running this install of windows for a while then maybe it's time to reinstall. Nothing you described strikes me as hardware related, and only by doing a fresh install will you know for sure.

Quite likely, as Kevin mentioned, this is a a spyware/virus type problem.

How often do you run apps to find and remove these (AdAware, anti-virus, etc)? I'd try that first. Then (if that isn't the issue) save everything you need to, and do then reformat/reinstall of Windows.

yea i m going to reccomend that you back up all your data and then reformat the hard drive and reinstall, it could be that either something is corrupt or the spyware/virus corrupted something