After installing SP2 my computer will not power down. When go to start - turn off - turn off this computer - I get computer saving your settings, then computer turning off but then nothing. I have to use the power on/off switch to swich off.

Any ideas please.

See if anything here helps:

http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

Especially the SHUTDOWN HANGS ON “SAVING YOUR SETTINGS” section.

I've been having problems 'powering down' since installing SP2 - Today I uninstalled SP2 and reverted back to SP1 and my computer now goes off without having to use the on/off switch.

My problem now is I have lost my Windows Live One Care, and Windows Defender - I like these two programs but you need to have SP2 for them to work. Has anyone experienced this problem before and suggest a way that can help me overcome it.

There is no reason not to have SP2. You just need to troubleshoot what this issue is.

Did you review all of the details in the above link?

Also perhaps one of the apps that is running is not closing down. Open task manager by ctrl-alt-del. End the processes one at at time, trying a shut down in between each process to see which one is causing the hang-up.

Hi jephree - sorry for taking so long to reply to your post. When I tried your suggestion in task manager I received a warning and I'm not too sure whither I should continue. What do you suggest? Is it safe to end the processes one at a time or will my computer become unstadle?

I have used system restore to put my computer back to the way it was - SP2, Windows Live OneCare and Windows Defender - Having to use on/off swich because the computer 'hangs' at saving your settings.

I know there is not a problem when I uninstall SP2 but When I remove SP2 I also loose Live OneCare and Windows Defender.

If you turn something off that is vital you can either restart it or just reboot. You can restart by clicking File >New Task (Run...)

For example explorer.exe is the Windows GUI (graphical user interface). Turning this off will give you a blank screen with only the Task Manager. If you want it back just type explorer.exe in New Task (Run...)

The first thing to do is close all programs manually including anti-virus and firewall. Close everything that appears in the system tray.