One of the most common system problems is very long process turning off the computer. That is, you press “Start” - “Shutdown” - “Shutdown” and instead of the 10-20 seconds allotted for turning off the system, you wait a minute, or even several! There are also cases when in general: you have to pull the plug out of the socket! How to solve this problem? Now let's see.

Firstly, if you are faced with the fact that your computer turns off for a very long time, then do not rush to freak out or panic: this “jamb” systematically occurs on 90% of all computers!

So do this: click " Reset "(on system unit) and wait for the computer to load. After downloading, you should defragment the registry and file system. Many users completely ignore these points, and then cannot understand: why did the computer stop working normally and take a very long time to turn off?! Valid

But why?! After all, you haven’t defragmented your files and registry for just a year. So what if there are already 70% of broken files?! And the registry is only 20-30 percent damaged?! After all, this does not mean that the system should work poorly! Or not?

Or not! The fact is that files and the registry are like a platform, like the foundation of the system in general! And if your foundation is pitted with holes the size of the Grand Canyon, then what kind of stable operation of the system can we even talk about?!

I hope you now understand how important it is to defragment the registry and file system? By the way, I recommend using these convenient programs, How " Glary Utilities" or " Auslogics BoostSpeed“: These programs have both!

After defragmentation, you should go to such a sacred place in your computer as “ Registry Editor“: this is where the final action of setting the shutdown will take place! " Start » — « Execute ". In the field " Open » enter « regedit" and click on " OK ". In the window that opens " Registry Editor» looking for a thread HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrenControlSet\Control\.

Having reached the folder " Control“Click on it (on it, not on the cross) and look at the right side of the window. There you will see three sections that are signed “ Name«, « Type" And " Meaning". We are looking for this line: “ WaitToKillServiceTimeout» 20000, 20000 is a millisecond value equal to 20 seconds.

To speed up the system shutdown time, you should change this value to a lower value. To do this, place the cursor on the line “ WaitToKillServiceTimeout 20000", right-click and select " Change ". A window will open with two sections: “ Parameter" And " Meaning". In the field " Meaning" will be 20000. You delete them (just erase them) and enter the value 5000, click " OK "and reboot the computer, and I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the time it takes for it to turn off.

That's it: the problem of the computer turning off for a long time should be solved, because this algorithm helps in more than 90% of cases. I'm sure it will help you too!

After a clean installation Windows versions to formatted hard drive the user begins to get used to the fact that his computer works quickly and without failures. It turns on and off almost instantly almost immediately after pressing the “Shutdown” button. But the more loaded the system becomes, the more problems of various kinds arise with it. One of the troubles that you may encounter Windows user, is a long shutdown of the system. In this article, we’ll look at what to do if your Windows computer takes a long time to shut down.

Table of contents:

Please note: The tips below apply to Windows 10 computers and earlier versions operating system. In particular, they will help solve the problem if your Windows 7 computer takes a long time to shut down.

Why does the computer take a long time to turn off?

Before moving directly to tips that will help solve the problem, you need to understand what it is connected with. There are several main reasons why a computer takes a long time to turn off:

  • The presence of constantly active “heavy” applications that require time to complete. At the same time, the user does not always know that such programs work in background. Accordingly, this may generally slow down the speed of the computer;
  • “Broken” applications do not allow the computer to turn off quickly, and in some cases even prevent it from turning off;
  • Driver problems;
  • The presence of viruses on the computer.

The above are only the most common reasons that may be associated with a long computer shutdown.

What to do if the computer turns off for a long time

Let's consider a number of actions that should speed up the process of shutting down the computer under Windows control. We recommend performing them sequentially, after each step restarting the computer and checking whether the problem was resolved.

Remove unnecessary programs from startup

The main reason why a computer can take a long time to turn on and off is the presence of a large number of programs in startup. However, often not all of the downloaded applications are needed by the user on a regular basis.

Many programs automatically add themselves to startup during installation. For example, they do this various clients social networks, gaming services (Steam, Uplay, Origin), instant messengers, VPN programs and many other applications. If they are not removed from the list automatic download, they will slow down not only the startup of the computer, but also its shutdown.

To remove from startup unnecessary applications, you must perform the following steps:


Please note: In the task manager there is a separate column “Impact on startup”. The higher the influence of an application on starting the computer, the more it prevents it from shutting down.

Ideally, only the most important ones should boot automatically when you turn on the computer. necessary programs which are used daily. For example, these could be applications such as: Skype, Telegram, Dropbox and antivirus.

Remove junk from the system

The second step that can help speed up your computer's shutdown is removing junk from hard drive. Often, the user does not realize that one of the programs that was installed and uninstalled a long time ago can affect the performance of the computer. But this is true, since many applications leave traces of themselves on the system, for example, various drivers, system components and so on. When a lot of such “garbage” accumulates in the system, it must be cleaned. The CCleaner application can handle this:


It would also be a good idea to remove unnecessary programs from your computer. Despite the fact that they themselves do not affect the speed of turning on and off the computer, if they are not running, they can affect these processes indirectly, since they take up space on the hard drive, and all key processes in Windows depend on the amount of information on it . You can remove programs through the standard “Add or Remove Programs” utility in Windows, or through the CCleaner application on the “Tools” tab.


How to install and configure CCleaner correctly:

Identifying and eliminating hanging processes and services

If a program freezes before turning off the computer, the user will be informed about this with the message “Waiting to close programs” and a list of them. But almost all applications in the system that are open at the time of shutdown freeze in this way, so it is recommended to close all open applications before clicking the “Shutdown” button.

It is much worse if, when you turn off the computer, a process or executing service freezes. In this case, you need to determine what exactly is freezing, and then fix the problem. You can find out which process or service is hanging using the system event viewer application:


Here you can see what errors preceded the computer shutdown process. The bottom of the window contains information about which file stopped responding, what led to the failure, or another reason for the problem. Depending on what reason causes the error, you need to take certain actions. For example, remove the problematic application, update the driver, perform a system update, and so on.

Video card driver update

Another reason that often leads to a long shutdown of the computer is a malfunction of the video driver. To solve the problem, you will need to update the driver. You can do this as follows:


It is worth noting that if, on the contrary, problems with the computer began to arise after you updated the driver to latest version, in the device properties you can “Roll Back” the software to previous versions.

Cleaning up hard drive space

As noted above, a large number of applications and files on the computer can negatively affect the performance of the system if there are few Windows tasks left free space. Currently, Windows 10 requires at least 30 GB of free space on your system hard drive.

That is, if your computer has several hard drives, you need to try to unload as much as possible the one on which the operating system is installed. Information from it can be transferred to another drive.

Please note: Installing the operating system on solid state drive – .

Search and remove viruses

No computer is protected from viruses, even if an antivirus is installed on it. From time to time it is necessary to conduct a full system scan for infections. According to the recommendations of antivirus developers, you need to conduct a full scan of your computer at least once a month.

Please note: When scanning your computer for viruses, the antivirus application must be updated to the latest version. This is important because the database of viruses on the developer side is constantly growing.

We recommend reading:

Reducing the waiting threshold for programs

It takes 12 seconds until the computer turns off and displays a message that the program is not responding. This value is set by default in the operating system. If you set that 6 seconds should pass before this message, rather than 12, the computer shutdown speed can be increased. To reduce the waiting threshold for programs you will need:


After making changes, restart your computer for them to take effect.

Disabling the memory clear function

Important: Before you perform the following steps, create a restore point because they may cause problems with your computer.

According to the operating principles of the Windows operating system, virtual memory is completely cleared when the computer is turned off, and only after this the work shuts down. You can disable this in the settings, which will significantly speed up the process of shutting down the computer, but can negatively affect the operation of the operating system as a whole, and also lead to “broken” files if the result was not saved manually before turning off the computer. To disable the memory clearing function, you need to:


By following all the steps described above, you can significantly speed up the process of shutting down your computer.

No, this article will not talk about settings or programs for automatically turning off the computer.

I will describe a solution to the problem when Windows 10 turns off by itself, and how to prevent it.

First, go to the “Settings” section, then go to “Personalization”, click on “Lock screen” and then “Screen saver options”.

Here we need to make sure that the “Start at login screen” checkbox is unchecked. Then go to “Settings” -> “System” -> “Power and sleep mode”, where we check that all installed options are in the “Never” position. Next, click “Advanced power settings” and then click “Create a power plan.” In the window that opens, check the “High performance” checkbox.
If you did as described above and nothing helped, then another reason (why Windows 10 shuts down) could be due to viruses. Check your computer with an antivirus. Before doing this, be sure to make sure that it is functioning properly.

I would also recommend finding out which applications run with the operating system. This can be done by going to “Taskbars” -> Task Manager, opening the latter through context menu right-click and go to “Startup”, delete unnecessary things.

Moreover, the problem when the computer turns off by itself can be:

  • Driver conflict
  • Unstable voltage in the electrical network
  • Hard drive failure
  • Weak power supply or poor contact of the power cord with the power supply
  • "Bloated" capacitors
  • “Burnt” thermal paste
  • Burnt out North Bridge
  • Discord between established software. For example, many people manage to install several programs for one action, say, Kaspersky Anti-Virus + Dr.Web + Avast. It is also not uncommon for non-updated applications to be to blame.
    There was a case when an acquaintance, an elderly man, approached me with a request to look at his computer. Programs could not open on it, the computer constantly turned off and froze. Imagine my surprise when his software was from 2009.
  • Poorly installed and configured operating room Windows system 10
  • Incompatibilities motherboard with processor. Then the computer will turn off approximately every 20-30 minutes
  • Poorly installed hardware. In this case, simply pull it out of the connector and reinsert it. More dust.
  • Extra items in USB input. I had experience when small children inserted a 50 kopeck coin into the connector and the computer would turn on for a while and then turn off. And it happened that it didn’t load at all.

To the post “What to do if Windows 10 turns off by itself” 7 comments

    Imagine my surprise when his software was from 2009. And why should it work poorly? 10 is shit on its own.

    I don’t agree that 10 is bad; if it is bad, it’s only because of its dampness.


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