Whenever you shut down your computer, it takes a lot of time in closing all the running applications.And worse, if they stop responding, then you have to click either end task or wait for windows to shut it down. To get rid of this problem, use the following registry hack to fix this :). This hack automatically shuts the non-responding, annoying applications instantly and without any interruption.

1. Open regestry editor from Start -> Run -> type regedit
2. Find HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
on the left side of the registry editor window.
3. Double click on AutoEndTasks key from the right window and assign the value to be 1. The default value is 0.

Reverting the process is also very simple. Just change the AutoEndTasks value to 0.

You can also increase the booting/startup time for Windows XP by disabling unwanted services.