J
Joe McGuire
Flightless Bird
I am trying to figure out why my computer (XP/SP3) seems to have trouble
shutting down from time to time. Several days ago I shut it down. Or
thought I did. Obviously I was in a hurry and did not sit watching it for
the usual long time the shut down usually takes. Came back to restart it
today and at first I thought it had read my mind and started up on its own.
Then I realized it had never finished shutting down. Apparently a program
was not responding and Windows was asking me what did I want to do? A
question like this is probably even more inane of the things Windows may
ask. Did it notice the shut down command? What are the odds that, given my
command to shut down, I would want to abort the process because something
was not responding? Well, as far as I know there are only two options: (1)
Wait around for a few hours in the vain hope that the dud program somehow
revives itself--and then, what, the computer resumes shutting down? of (2)
End the program and let the shutdown proceed. Even if option #1 were
technically feasible, it would be utter nonsense. There is no practical
choice here.
And in the end, after clicking to End the program, the machine did not shut
down anyway. Instead it stopped at an "empty" desktop, i.e., there was my
desktop picture but without any icons, toolbars, systray, etc.
Any idea what this is all about?
I am a PC and I'm trying to figure out how do what I think I am supposed to
without giving the guy at the keyboard heartburn!
shutting down from time to time. Several days ago I shut it down. Or
thought I did. Obviously I was in a hurry and did not sit watching it for
the usual long time the shut down usually takes. Came back to restart it
today and at first I thought it had read my mind and started up on its own.
Then I realized it had never finished shutting down. Apparently a program
was not responding and Windows was asking me what did I want to do? A
question like this is probably even more inane of the things Windows may
ask. Did it notice the shut down command? What are the odds that, given my
command to shut down, I would want to abort the process because something
was not responding? Well, as far as I know there are only two options: (1)
Wait around for a few hours in the vain hope that the dud program somehow
revives itself--and then, what, the computer resumes shutting down? of (2)
End the program and let the shutdown proceed. Even if option #1 were
technically feasible, it would be utter nonsense. There is no practical
choice here.
And in the end, after clicking to End the program, the machine did not shut
down anyway. Instead it stopped at an "empty" desktop, i.e., there was my
desktop picture but without any icons, toolbars, systray, etc.
Any idea what this is all about?
I am a PC and I'm trying to figure out how do what I think I am supposed to
without giving the guy at the keyboard heartburn!