So here are two quick ways to speed up your Windows XP shutdown and if need be restart time. The first one is do away with that awful Exiting Windows .wav file that plays. It slows down the process considerably and I don't know about you but I am tired of hearing it.
All you need to do to silence this slow down is to click your start button then go to:
settings -> control panel -> Sound,Speech and Audio devices -> Sounds and Audio Devices -> Sounds
Once you pick the "Sounds" tab scroll till you find the Program Event "Exit Windows" and choose the Sounds (None)
You can speed up your Windows XP shutdown time also by making a quick registry change.
"Please remember before making any change to your registry to make a backup copy of it somewhere else."
Once you have made your back up copy of your registry then all you need to do is find the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Control
Select the "Control" folder and find the WaitToKillServiceTimeout key and change it from its default setting of 20000 to a much smaller number preferably below 2000 I chose 200.
Once these two easy tweaks are done your Windows XP shut down time will decrease dramatically.
Labels: Tweak Tuesdays, Windows XP Tips and Tweaks | 
