XP won't shut down

[smol0028]

My mother is having an issue with her computer. When she tries to shut down, XP won't. It just sits on the waiting to shutdown screen but never actually does. Does anyone know why or what I can do to fix the issue. Also her computer tends to be locking up and acting really slow. She does have Norton Anti virus that she runs almost daily and anti spyware software that she also runs often.

Here are her specs:

Compaq Presario Intel Pent (R) 4 cpu 2.4 ghz, 512 RAM, 80 G HD (40 free)

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

[doubledragon5]

First I would do away with norton it is a huge system resource hog.. Download avg free and do a complete system scan for viruses and trojans.. Also you might want to try Tren Micro online sanner.. You also want to delete any cookies and temp files.. Then go to start>run>msconfig> then under start-up you want to uncheck all boxes to stop all the programs the run in the back ground...Then close and reboot and see if any of this helps..

[juppy]

Doubledragon5 gave you some good advice, especially about losing Norton, but one thing I wanted to elaborate on. In the msconfig startup area, you probably don't want to stop ALL of the programs from running, because some of them are likely needed. For instance, in mine I've got one that loads stuff for my keyboard to function right, another is for my temperature monitoring, and yet another is for the antivirus to load on boot. Just go through and try to decide if it's something vital to the system or not. For instance, things like automatic updaters for things like Adobe Acrobat or Real Player wouldn't be necessary to the functioning of the machine. If you're not sure, post what you're not sure about here and somebody can probably tell you what it is and if it can be disabled or not.

[Panama Red]

Here's a link that will help you identify whether a startup program is necessary, optional or not needed. I use this site all the time when servicing customer machines.

http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

[smol0028]

Thanks for all the great advice. I will try to work on changing her anti-virus program and looking into the startup programs. If these don't seem to help her, I'll come back and let you know so we can see if there is another possible solution.

Thanks again