digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover and share the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Is your Windows systems slow to log-off or shutdown?

microsoft.com — Microsoft has a utility called UPHClean which helps unload the user session quickly and completely at log-off or shutdown. I've tried it and it's significantly reduced the amount of time it takes to shutdown my laptop at the end of the day.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • PAStheLoD, on 10/12/2007, -53/+33Validation required .. so this is a no go :]
    • CarlosReyes, on 10/12/2007, -44/+18Yeah, is there a workaround for WGA?
    • teamparadox, on 10/12/2007, -48/+81and we dont feel bad for you...the one thing you shouldnt pirate is your OS since you rely on the damn thing so much...you know?
    • afx1, on 10/12/2007, -12/+45@teamparadox

      Being the hypocrite that I am, I modded you up.
    • CarlosReyes, on 10/12/2007, -30/+9@teamparadox...
      Its a long story... not that I ENJOY it, but the other computers have genuine windows. Its just the one Im using now.
    • CarlosReyes, on 10/12/2007, -20/+7Me and my big mouth... I got it on with no special cracks or anithying.. (BTW: i didint mean I enjoy having genuine windows, i mean i dont enjoy having pirated windows, it just happened, and my family dosent see it as a priority to spend $100 to be able to run 4 programs)
    • combatchuck, on 10/12/2007, -21/+9I absolutely refuse to pay for a system that is forced upon me by application developers.
    • teamparadox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@Carlos

      I understand that and I dont fault you for it but I dont feel bad when people cant patch or run a usefull MS app. No need to explain yourself, im no anti piracy nazi.
    • xst4t1kx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Failed authentication doesn't mean your OS is pirated, MS has plenty of problems with flagging legit copies as invalid. I have a legit copy of 2K that I had problems with and I had a friend that bought a new in box copy of XP that rejected the CD key that came with it. When we called MS support it rejected the new key they provided while we were on the phone with them. 3rd key worked but it shouldn't take 3 keys. I called to get help with 2K but got run around and had to jump through hoops like they were trying to up-sell me on another OS. Friend with XP was provided 2 new keys in about 15 minutes. I will be glad when I never have to use their software.
    • dbr_onix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If nothing else, the WGA validation is a pain, I have a valid copy of Windows on my PC, but I don't want to install the fecking program that may way take a disliking to my OS and decide it's an illegal copy.. What's worse is it doesn't really seem to be helping, and theres an extremely easy way around it : Download on another PC, transfer the setup file over...
      It's another example of buying software/games/music being more of a hastle than pirating it.. Theres numerous ways around the WGA that are simplier than the "proper" way (Much like things like Starforce games can screw your CD drive, where as a cracked version won't have this problem, downloading an album of bittorrent wont have any problems with DRM if you need to transfer the music to a new computer etc)..
      Untill the legal way to do things like getting software, buying games etc is easier, piracy will still be a problem.. Things like the WGA just make it worse, by making things difficult for the user..

      Anyway, my long rant, combined with the fact I rarely reboot/shutdown this machine (And when I do I tend to just click the button and go do something else for 5 minutes), I won't use this, but it doesn't seem like there are any huge problems to this, so why isn't it a default thing Windows does?
      - Ben
  • tidu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+20Anyone have the problem when logging off where it says "Ending Process" I think, and you have to click the button to end it or the computer won't shut down? I usually walk away as it's shutting down and this sometimes keeps the computer on. It happens every once in a while, not every shutdown.
    • andykling, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8yes, I have this problem nearly every shutdown. Quite annoying! Does this app fix this problem?
    • tidu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3I remember reading somewhere or hearing that it has to do with Windows saving settings/preferences, like afetr you use an Office program or change Windows settings, but I'm not totally sure.
    • Splitt3rxx, on 10/12/2007, -23/+8to get past WGA just go to any computer store and buy a copy of windows XP, then format to remove the pirate copy and reinstall winXP, that is the best workaround I can come up with.
    • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yeah (when I use Windows), it does this to me. Especially if I have steam running, it seems to always do it.
    • mtnxfreeride, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3iTunes does it for me..
    • McGriddles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It could also mean that when the application takes time to shutdown, it could be doing something at the moment, when you are trying to shutdown your computer. For an example, it could be using the Internet at the moment and by shutting down the computer, you interrupt what it was doing causing it to react slower during the shutdown.
    • heavyd14, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Set it to automatically kill the process by editing the registry: http://www.johntp.com/2006/02/14/speed-up-windows-xp-shutdown/

      The first part involves killing running applications (Crashed, Hung or Running Normally) and the second involves killing applications that cause the messages you are talking about.
    • Kruncher, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3copy and paste the code below into a file named something.reg, save and then double click it, should fix your problem

      REGEDIT4

      ;Improve XP Shutdown Speed (e.g. disable annoying "end process" dialogs)

      [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]

      "WaitToKillAppTimeout"="1000"

      "HungAppTimeout="1000"

      "AutoEndTasks"="1"


      [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]

      "WaitToKillAppTimeout"="1000"



      [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control]

      "WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"
    • Kruncher, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1it looks like heavyd beat me too it...
  • D4r7h3v1l, on 10/12/2007, -12/+6No, but thanks.
  • xartion, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I've been using this tool for several months now, it's actually surprisingly decent.
  • D4V1S, on 10/12/2007, -18/+4did you see how they had a screenshot of Firefox's download manager?
  • Buelldozer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you work with Citrix / Terminal Servies you've probably been using this for quite some time. :-)
  • nogami, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Alternate download (non-MS link - should be OK, but YMMV):

    http://www.snapfiles.com/get/uphcservice.html
  • radiofrequency, on 10/12/2007, -14/+5Amazing, and it took them only what, 12 years, to release this?

    PS- does it work?
    • swizzle, on 10/12/2007, -15/+3wondering the same thing
    • malliemcg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Actually UPHClean has been around for at least 5 years, I have used it in many jobs, it makes managing a network much easier and will decrease the percentage of locked/damaged roaming profiles dramatically. (Went from 3-5 per day to less than 1 per month).
  • wordsofwisedumb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If this works so well, why isn't it installed by default? What's the downside to it? Is there one?
    • Ryokurin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The program can sometimes kill processes that seem to not be in use but actually are. Thus if you start having some programs crash for no reason at all or missing dll errors its likely this causing it. Its rare but it can happen.
    • monsieurevil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10UPHCLEAN stands for User Profile Hive clean. All it does is watch for handles to your registry at shutdown that do not appear to be closing in a timely manner. It will not fix any apps, break any apps, or do anything to apps. All it does is close registry handles.

      That's all. Nothing else.

      If you examine your Application event log, you can get an idea of which apps are causing the problems. Often times, it's crappy printer drivers that prevent the spooler from releasing handles. Other times, it's silly 3rd party apps.

      In Vista there's a new user profile service that takes care of this in box, so you won't need UPHClean anymore.
    • wallclimber, on 10/12/2007, -9/+10wordsofwisedumb wrote: "If this works so well, why isn't it installed by default? What's the downside to it? Is there one?"
      ============================

      Yes, there is one huge downside (quoted from MS download page):

      ~ "This download is available to customers running genuine Microsoft Windows. Please click the Continue button to begin Windows validation." ~

      WGA has nothing to do with pirated software...it has everything to do with spyware. I'm too damned old to be treated like a child and to be required to check in every week to prove I'm not doing anything wrong and that my operating system is still valid. I find it insulting and will not support it.

      Others may feel differently, I'm sure, but I've spent too much money on Microsft products over the last decade to accept this sort of demeaning nonsense from them. They have seen the last dollar from me.

      I cannot understand why more people do not question this WGA behavior. If Windows is "stolen" so often, how in God's Name did that company ever manage to accumulate so many billions and billions of dollars? Obviously SOMEBODY'S been buying it in the past. But, hopefully not so much anymore.
  • toddomatic, on 05/20/2008, -8/+10Ok, now where's the "Speed up the 7 Minute Startup" tool?
    • fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12Dude, if your computer takes 7 minutes to start up, you probably have a hardware problem or a serious spyware infestation. If your computer takes more than a minute to start up, you should have it checked by someone who knows how to use computers (ie, not you).
    • MioTheGreat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14You're going to have to hire someone to stop you from clicking 'yes' to every popup you see when you're browsing porn to stop that....
    • 1coreduo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8It's called re-install
    • _Caboose_, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2See my comment just below this one for a possible solution :)
    • salmonmoose, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It could also be font bloat, don't install too many fonts, just the one's you're using at the moment.
  • Antagonist, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Is there one that makes starting up faster? My computer is slow as nails and I'm running an AMD 2600 !
    • chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1AMD 2600+ athlon xp??? Barton or Thoroughbred??? Neither of those are that fast anyway.
    • _Caboose_, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I deleted my prefetch files (%systemroot%/Prefetch) and it sped up start up time SIGNIFICANTLY. It went from a couple minutes to a few seconds for me. Just don't delete the layout.ini file - not sure if anything needs that, but it's better to be on the safe side. If you want to stop Windows from making the prefetch files altogether, disable the Task Scheduler service - I've noticed nothing wrong by doing this, and Windows or my programs don't appear to load any slower without the prefetch files.
  • harrisonpowers, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Great, just installed and saw a significant decrease in my shutdown time. The time I used to have to deal with was absolutely horrible, now it's just alright. Big change though, thanks.
    • 1coreduo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Why shutdown? Why don't you just hibernate, put it to stand-by or something similar?
      Is shutdown required by Windows?
      Linux do not need to shutdown (unless upgrade kernel) ...
    • D14BL0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'm tired of all these Linux n00bs acting like they NEVER have to shut down their computers. Sure, while it's not REQUIRED to shut down Linux as often, it's usually a good idea to restart it from time to time. Like ANY computer (even phones), RAM gets clogged, regardless of how well your OS handles RAM usage. RAM can only PHYSICALLY take so much, and will fragment data and get clogged, just like any Windows system.
  • EmperorKO, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I installed this the first time it was posted here. Doesn't do a damn thing for me. If anything, now I notice the slowness even more because I'm actually paying attention to see if this thing works.
    • monsieurevil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you look in your application event log you'll see uphclean working. If it has nothing to do it will tell you on each logoff that it did... nothing.
    • EmperorKO, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, thanks! I never knew about event logs.

      Unfortunately it does confirm that UPHClean is doing nothing for me. Since I installed it on 7/3, other than loading and unloading itself, it's performed ONE action to "remap handles," whatever that means.
  • MrGump, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Wow! Now if they can just find a way to work such amazing technology into their operating system......
    • monsieurevil, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Did. See user profile service in Vista. Then read about what UPHClean actually does and how it's mainly fighting your cruddy 3rd party apps.
  • crispytown, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Date Published: 4/7/2006

    and I think I have seen this on digg before. But it is nice anyways to be reminded. I always forget stuff.
  • bilbus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Yup this is a tool i have been using with terminal services for a while
  • hrdcregmer808, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Awesome... My shutdown isnt that slow but now its like brand new!!
  • Yankees368, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Is anyone else getting a network error message while trying to insall it?
  • Sidnak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ive used this awhile back it helped me out a lot. Works great
  • Imusion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Oh cool, I will definately check this out. My Dell over here has a gazillion message boxes pop-up simultaneously when I try to shutdown and the speakers make all these annoying window prompt sounds before finally shutting down.
  • JLSaborio, on 10/12/2007, -8/+3Any hope for those of us who will not be able to pass the genuine advantage test????
    • No.Gov, on 10/12/2007, -7/+5READ THE COMMENTS THAT IS WHAT THEY'RE THERE FOR.
  • JimNtexas, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This made a noticable difference for me. dugg
  • techlinks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Great, helps quite a bit.

    I don't see peoples big problem with WGA. I mean, if you want free software to enhance your experience. Then you need to be legit, and have payed for your experience.
  • EricG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This service works .. I have been using it for months as well, and have had no issues using it and my shutdown times are down to mere seconds again.. don't hesitate to install this if you are having slow shutdown times, especially if it seems to hang at "saving settings" ..
  • jenna1976, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Thanks a lot.
  • Grayfox777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I already had this, but it was a really old version and has probably been updated since then, so I'll install it again now.
  • cobr@, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1just change the time for the killapp in the regestry. its set to 20 sec before it kills the app. i set mine to 1 sec and it shutsdown just as fast as it starts up, i also use bootvis for the quick start up, round 20 sec
  • catpounce004, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I wouldn't call it a significant boost...more like "makes it tolerable." Standby is much quicker.
  • hervey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4This one needs NO Windows Genuine Advantage.

    http://www.intelliadmin.com/profileclean.msi
    • imightbewrong, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2nice check this one out for us thieves!
  • Mtap, on 10/12/2007, -4/+0Yeah, this might help my computer, except mine wont even shut down...it just stays on the log off screen for ever. I have to flip the switch every time, which cant be good for the computer as a whole
  • ebola, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Stupid windows WGA validation:

    Validation Incomplete: Unable to Perform Validation
    [0x80080299]
    Why didn’t my machine complete validation?
    You have encountered an unknown error. Please contact your local product support team for further assistance with this issue.

    It worked fine just last week. This is why I hate WGA. Sux to microsoft, I'm off to one of the alternate sites.
    • 1coreduo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Linux anyone? ... Choose distro ...
  • haxx4, on 10/12/2007, -11/+7This is a dupe from 16 days ago. http://digg.com/software/Get_windows_to_shutdown_fast
    • striker1211, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Why do you digg him down? It's true.
  • snitsuj, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Works Great, Thanks
  • dEiluss, on 10/12/2007, -11/+0IT MAKES EVEN MOREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE SLOW ... IT SUCKSSSSSS
  • golhra, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I always Hibernate.
    • D14BL0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not good for your RAM. Keep in mind, when you hibernate, your RAM is saved to your hard drive in it's current state. If your RAM is clogged before hibernation, it'll be clogged after you wake it up, too. It's always a good idea to restart every now and then.
    • heavyd14, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1As do I. I do a restart whenever my computer becomes unbearable, or I have to for an Update (Windows, Drivers or Otherwise).
  • Shnax, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Wow... I cant believe microsoft actually has Genuine Advantage plug-in instructions for firefox.
    • D14BL0, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1They're not stupid. If they shut out Firefox users, they'd get rid of a few million Windows users.
  • tehpunk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6if i understand correctly, i have to install a new service to shut my pc down.

    that's just gaytastic.
  • knellotron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8WGAPluginInstall.exe doesn't run in Wine... :(

    lol. What a boneheaded idea.
  • OmegaNine, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Yeah you can get this, and it might help, or, you can just get a linux distro and be much better off. (Gamers need not apply)
  • davepascoe, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2question from a Mac user: why would you ever shut down your laptop?

    I have an iBook G4. it only gets restarted when Apple releases OS updates, otherwise I put it to sleep.
    • kday, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I have a Mac Desktop and a PC laptop. I rarely ever shut down either of them. I just Hibernate my laptop, and sleep my desktop. However, If I had an Apple laptop I probably wouldnt sleep it, because sleep uses energy. Did Apple ever officially enable Safe Sleep for the MacBook in Tiger? I believe I seen a hack on how to enable it. Safe sleep in OS X is the equivalent to hibernate on Windows if I remember right.
    • davepascoe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@kday

      why not? it uses a tiny amount of energy. I expect the amount of enery used by a sleeping laptop for a few hours is less than the energy used to shut down everything and then wake it up again, except that going into/out of sleep takes about 1.5 seconds.

      I don't understand your point.
  • hollywoodone, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2do this instead
    http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1590&page=32
  • maxplanar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1OK, here's a real question and I'm NOT trolling. I'm just interested in the technicalities, and not a flame war. I'm a Mac user and have never understood why I can Sleep my laptop or desktop in about one to two seconds, and wake them in about the same time. On all Windows systems that I use (and I use them frequently), Hibernate takes so freaking long it's not worth doing. But why? What are the OS'es doing differently that this is the case?
    • heavyd14, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1On my system, Hibernation takes
    • heavyd14, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Digg trimmed my comment. (Less than symbol)

      On my system, Hibernation takes less than 30 seconds or so either side. (I can't be bothered to time it and it is certainly not too long to be not worth doing.) There is a standby mode that uses a small amount of power that goes even faster, though I don't use it, because it uses power. Are we comparing oranges to oranges here? Are you setting your mac to a mode where it uses Zero power? Can you unplug it without losing data while in this state? (Assuming it isn't a laptop.)

      I believe there is a way of setting it so after a set time it standby, it will automatically wake up to hibernate. (It has to wake up to write the RAM to disk.) I know laptops will do this when the battery reaches a critical level.
    • maxplanar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1>>Are you setting your mac to a mode where it uses Zero power?

      No, not zero power - but effectively so. My laptop battery will last a few days in Sleep state, and wake within two seconds to full 'alertness' and the entire system exactly as it was when slept.

      Can you unplug it without losing data while in this state? (Assuming it isn't a laptop.)

      Yes- if it's a laptop it can be plugged in and out at random without affecting anything. On a desktop - no, it'll kill it. It needs a tiny amount of power to maintain its state when slept. But wake and sleep are effectively instantaneous. I never, ever shut down my Macs.

      But why? What's the difference between the two 'resting' technologies?
    • chromium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I'm not sure how macs work but you say you put them to sleep which on PC means it is still using power, albeit not much, to keep the contents of ram. Hibernating is different, it stores the contents of ram to disk and actually powers the PC off. Obviously hibernating will take longer than sleeping.
    • maxplanar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ chromium, thanks. That would explain it. So Hibernate is sort of a half-way between OSX's Sleep and Shutdown, I guess. It's one thing I really like about the Mac laptops - at the end of the day or when you need to move, you just close the screen - instant sleep. Move, or fly all around the world, open laptop screen and carry right on from where you left off. Instant off, instant on. Nice.

      Again, this is not a troll.
    • aluminumpork, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Standy and Hibernate are not the same thing. If I am correct, Hibernate saves the current state to the hard-drive, therefore not using energy to keep the current state alive. Standby (once again, if I'm correct) keeps the current state in memory, which obviously needs energy to keep the state alive.
      Standby and HIbernate are both on Windows.
    • chromium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4PC laptops also have that ability. You can choose if you want the pc to shutdown, hibernate or sleep when you close the screen.
  • i440, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0"you just have to have Windows Genuine Advantage . . ."

    Because piracy is good?
  • Sharkee, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Why don't they just fix that in the real version of Windows? Why make a crappy version? I don't really care anymore since I installed Ubuntu, and I dual boot XP. Not gonna install it, even though I have a genuine version.
  • egingras, on 10/12/2007, -10/+2Who the ***** cares how long it takes? Shut it down and walk away. Good lord.
    • timmyallen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1dude, just over 300kb, who could refuse... this is even dialup friendly, how could NOT download this??
    • Tyseyh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1yeah but sometimes you CANT shut down and walk away coz of the damn widow that pops up saying a program aint responding you fool :P
  • rclay, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My Windows XP Professional blue screened within two minutes after installing this service.
  • stymiest, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0My apologies if this is a repost. I searched Digg for UPHClean before submitting and I didn't get the message that the URL had already been posted. Sorry.
  • fedmich, on 02/16/2008, -0/+0I always hibernate too, too bad that when I resume from hibernate, my firefox's memory consumption will rise up exponentially, so I had to close firefox and rely on restore session feature of firefox.
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.