12.3 Common Windows Operating System Problems
12.3.6 Troubleshooting shutdown problems
Sometimes technicians receive troubleshooting calls from end users whose systems will not shut down. Usually, this is caused by an application that is still running in the background. This application may have encountered an error, and the application processes may be hanging up the system and preventing it from shutting down. If this occurs, one solution is to press the Ctrl+Alt+Del buttons and end the application processes manually, then shut down the system normally. Further troubleshooting steps should be taken to see what caused the application to hang up in the first place.