Try the "Processes" tab of the Task Manager. That should never be empty.
Refresh my memory please. I am using Windows 7 and I have seen this myself on occasion. The display darkens considerably and this message appears on the darkened background.
But doesn't Windows 7 say what program it is waiting to close? I thought it did but as it hasn't happened to me in a while I cannot remember.
Also, if you just wait, does the 'shut-down' process close this program anyway and then shut down continues?
Something you could try. The next time you intend to shutdown, make a note of the time, (hours and minutes). Then shut down. Then reboot Windows and head over to the Event Viewer and search for any software or system events that are taking a long time to close from that time you noted.
Event Viewer: Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer, then "Windows Logs" and Application and/or System.
I hope that helps.
Mark
when I shut down my computer I always get a message "waiting for background program to close" Then I have the option to force shut down. When I check my task manager, nothing is showing as running in the background; as a matter of fact there is just a blank screen.
Can anyone help me clear this up. Very very simple instruction though as I am a total idiot on this thing, lol
kathiewithak
Aspire 7540G-1088, Windows 7

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