Few days ago I used Norton Removal Tool to delete my NIS, I did run it, and after few minutes program said that now computer needs to be restarted. The problem is it didn't want to shut down, it stopped on message on the screen - "Shutting Down". After an hour it was still like that, so I pressed the power button, it went off and on without any problems. I installed my NIS again whitout any issues, computer restarted again normally. Nothing happend for a few days - turning the computer off went without any problems. But then after few days, when I wanted to turn it off, it stopped on "Shutting Down". This time I left it for 5 hours, but when I came back home it was in the same state. I pressed power button, and did turn it on again - no problems. And after a next week it happend again - computer didn't want to turn off. It happens sometimes, I don't think it does any harm to my PC, but it's quite annoying. Anyone of you have any idea why it's happening? As I said, it did it for the first time after using Norton Removal Tool. Thanks for any answers, regards, Konrad.
Hello konrip
Can you please tell us some information about your computer? What operating system and what service pack please? Also is it 32 bit or 64 bit ? Which version of NIS did you uninstalll and then reinstall? Do you have any other Norton products installed? Do you have any other real time security programs installed now or when you used the Norton Removal Tool? Did you get the link for the Norton Removal Tool from the Forum? Thanks.
HI konrip,
Do you get any message from Windows when you try to shut down? Usually there will be a message indicating that Windows is waiting for such and such process to end. Do you see any such message?
At some point Windows should forcefully shut down any processes that are still hanging. Do you get an option to shut down now? If so what happens when you click on this?
Do you see this problem when you do a restart or just on a complete shut down?
Also try checking your Windows system and applciation events and see if there are any events logged at around the time you attempt to perform the shut down.
To view events type in the word event in the start menu search box. When the events window comes up click the + sign next to Windows logs. Then search through the application and system events for the time frame in question.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes.
Allen
I too had this exact same issue. It hasn't happened to me for awhile. You try to shut down and it goes on and on and won't shut down until you maually press the power button. Oddly enough this never happened until I upgraded to NIS 2011 from 2010. I am using Windows Vista Service Pack 2 32-bit.
Hi! All,
I have a question for those having the shut down issue. Have you tried running basic system maintenance? (Basic system maintenance includes running a complete disk check, running disk cleanup manually, and disk defragmenter manually this can clear up alot of issues in Windows.) Yes, I do know that Windows Vista through 7 do the disk defragment on their own at a pre-scheduled time, however that means the system must be turned on at that time or the task does not run.
Tech83
I have Windows Vista: Home Premium SP2 32bit, before unnistalling NIS I had the same version - 2011. I don't have any other Norton products or real time security programs installed. And, yes, I got the link from the forum.
My Vista just hangs on message "Shutting Down", I don't get any option to cloes any process or anything.
I also checked my events, and my PC doesn't 'see' these shut downs, I mean if the computer hangs, there is no event in the events list.
I did the full 'format' of my system 2 months ago, and I didn't installed many programs, so I think my computer is relativelly clean.
Thanks for your help so far, regards, Konrad.
Hi Konrad,
Have you followed Tech83's suggestions? To reiterate I would recommend the following:
1. Perform a chkdsk /r for each drive. For the system drive Windows will tell you that it needs to schedule the chkdsk for the next restart. Answer yes to this and restart your computer. Let us know if it finds any problem. Be sure to run this for each drive if you have more than one.
2. You can go ahead and defragment your hard drives though this is less likely to be causal than the chkdsk.
3. Please see this post and follow the suggestions there. Though this post was written to address a BSOD, the relevance is that it helps identity driver issues that Windows may have missed.
Please let us know how it goes.
Best wishes.
Allen
When I put chkdsk r/ it just comes up with the message cannot lock current drive, I don't get any otion if I want to do it after the next reboot.
hi Konrad,
You need to do this from a CMD prompt. From start menu go to Accessories and then find the Command Prompt entry. Right click on this and select Run As Administrator.
For your C drive you would type in: chkdsk c: /r. If you have another drive (say Drive D) you would do a chkdsk d: /r, etc.
Do this for each hard drive on your system.
Another question. Do you have external USB devices connected during the shut down attempt? If so try disconnecting those and see if it makes a difference.
Best wishes.
Allen
Ok, I did chkdsk - as I thought, there are no problems. The only 2 USB devices which are plugged in, are - my mouse, and printer. But this can't be the problem, because they were there for 2 years, and there was no problem at all. As I said, my computer is fairly 'fresh', because I did format 2 months ago. Problem first occured after I used Norton Removal Tool, was it just coincidence, or was it this program to cause the problem? Thank you for help, regards, Konrad.
Hi Konrad,
Anything is possible but it is highly unlikely that the removal tool would have caused something like this.
Did you follow through on item #3 at my earlier post?
If #3 from my earlier post does not yield results I would recommend that you use msconfig to eliminate all start programs and processes except Norton and MS services. If you need more detail on how to do this, please ask us.
Best wishes.
Allen
Hi! Konrad,
AllenM, has provided you with very sound advice. I do have to ask: do you have Adobe Reader or any Adobe products period installed onto your system (Adobe Flash counts too)? I have encountered several issues where Adobe products can cause problems on systems' whenever a removal tool is used to remove any security program whether it is Norton, McAfee, Kasperskys' or any other it does not matter.
Tech83 :)
AllenM, sorry I forgot to tell you, I actually used this suggestion, from your earlier post to use this program, but it doesn't work for me, it just doesn't see any problem, when my issue happens.
I'm not sure how to use msconfig, and I'm not sure if it will help, I'm not experienced in these things, but how disabling start up programs will help me, so computer will shut down properly?
Yes, I have few Adobe products installed - Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash Player 10 Plugin, Adobe Flash Player ActiveX, Adobe Reader 8.2.5.
Thanks for all your answers, I'm hoping for more :)
Regards, Konrad.
Hi Konrad,
When the OS hangs during shut down like that it is more common for this to be caused by a hardware issue which was the reason for using that other utility I mentioned from step #3 earlier.
Shutdowns which hang like that that can also be caused by software issues but it is somewhat less common because the OS is typically able to forcefully shut down any process which does not shut down on its own gracefully.
msconfig can help to narrow that down. If there is a piece of software causing this, msconfig could very possibly be used to find out which one is the culprit.
I'd like you to try using msconfig to do a selective startup. To do this please go to Windows start menu and type in msconfig in the search box and hit Return. This will bring up the System Configuration Window. Click on the Services tab and down at the bottom put a checkmark on Hide All Microsoft Services. Then click Disable All on the bottom right. Now go back through the list and put a checkmark back on anything which has Norton or Symantec in the Service or Manufacturer columns. Then click on the Startup tab and again click Disable All. As before, go back through the list putting a checkmark on any Norton or Symantec related entries.
Then click Apply and OK and restart you computer. After the computer comes back up try a couple of shut down tests and see if there is any difference.
If you do not see the problem at this point then msconfig can be used to turn things back on one at a time until you find the one which is causing the issue.
If msconfig does not make a difference please be sure to run msconfig again and this time click on Enable All in both the Services and Startup tabs and OK your way out and reboot the computer.
If all this does not tell us anything we can try using the removal tool one more time to remove NIS and reinstall. Please do not do this until we have discussed results of the other tests, because if we get to this point I will want to follow a certain procedure in the use of the removal tool to help ensure a proper cleanup.
Please let us know how it goes.
Best wishes.
Allen
Hello Konrad
Do you have Spybot with Tea Timer installed? Tea Timer will prevent the registry changes which might be necessary.
This problem happens once in about 30 reboots, I'm not sure if using msconfig is a good way to find the solution. Although I may give it a go.
No, I don't have a Spybot or TeaTimer installed.
Do you think that running Removal Tool again may help? But how? Sorry I'm not really experienced in these issues, so sorry for my maybe stupid question. Really thank you for all your answers, regards, Konrad.
konrip wrote:Yes, I have few Adobe products installed - Adobe AIR, Adobe Flash Player 10 Plugin, Adobe Flash Player ActiveX, Adobe Reader 8.2.5.
FWIW....your reported Adobe apps are outdated and vulnerable.
IMO.... a scan with Secunia OSI or Secunia PSI would render interesting results.
FWIW....have you tried "Vista won't shut down" at Microsoft answers Search bar.
FWIW....have you tried "Vista won't shut down" at Microsoft Fix it Search bar.
Hi Konrad,
I was under the impression that the "hang" was easily reproducible. I did not realize it is only once in about 30 reboots. That does make it tougher to be sure.
I'd hate to see you have to reboot 30 times back to back to try and reproduce this. 
I'm a little reluctant to "recommend" the removal tool under such intermittent circumstances but if you would like to do so, let me know and I'll provide the steps.
If the removal tool were to have caused this kind of issue I would expect the problem to occur much more frequently than you describe. Also if NIS is working properly for you, this would also indicate the removal tool did the proper clean-up.
Best wishes.
Allen
Hi! Konrad,
I would suggest that you go through all of your installed software and run their update programs to bring them up to date; this will resolve a wide range of issues. Give the age of your Adobe Reader I would suggest that you go to Adobe Downloads and select the options to get each item to have it downloaded and installed (allow the installers to do the uninstall of any previous versions so that settings will be transferred to the new installation; also sometimes Adobe will bundle software like the Adobe Air with the Adobe Reader download opt to have both downloaded and installed at the same time).
Also make sure that your system is clean and running cool otherwise some systems' will do a thermal lock up leaving the system running so that the fans can cool the system down (generally a thermal lock up is used when a computer manufacturer believes that their cooling implementations can gradually bring the system temperature down reducing the amount of damage to the system).
Tech83 :)
Adobe Reader 8.2.5 is still current and supported alongside 9.4. There is no need to update to 9.4 from a performance or security standpoint unless you want the new features. Moreover, Adobe Reader X, which will feature a sandboxing method to make the program more secure is due to be released very soon. I would just wait a few weeks and install Reader X for the added security it will provide.