24th September 2002

Question: Lately my Windows XP computer just stops responding when it is shutting down. It used to shutdown fine so I was curious why this is happening and can I fix it?

Answer: I think you will be surprised with how easy the fix for this actually is. All you need to do is download the latest Windows XP Service Pack (during the writing of this article the latest version is Service Pack 1). Microsoft has confirmed this as a problem that occurs because messages that are sent to winlogon.exe remain in the message queue and that blocks further processing. This happens frequently on Windows XP computers that are using the Fast User Switching feature and is running under heavy stress. On a personal note, I just want to say if you download the Windows XP Service Pack and choose to install it then please choose to archive the old files, as that gives you a way to back off the Service Pack installation if it causes you any other problems.