If you’re a Windows 2000 or XP user, there’ll come a time when your computer refuses to shut down as quickly as before. This is even if you’re positive you’ve shut down all the other services and process running before you shut down.

Well, sadly, Microsoft admits that Windows has some issues with regard to unloading the current user profile. But they’ve published this tool to help you fix that problem – the User Profile Hive Cleanup service.

The User Profile Hive Cleanup service helps to ensure user sessions are completely terminated when a user logs off. System processes and applications occasionally maintain connections to registry keys in the user profile after a user logs off. In those cases the user session is prevented from completely ending. This can result in problems when using Roaming User Profiles in a server environment or when using locked profiles as implemented through the Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP.

Download the User Profile Hive Cleanup Service. It’s for Windows 2000 and XP.

Caveat: Uninstall this service before upgrading to Windows Vista.

Source: Microsoft