In one way or another, shutting down our Windows-based computer is something we do on a daily basis. And it is that just as we turn on the PC to start the session, once we finish we have to turn it off until the next time. This is a process that in the Redmond operating system can take us more or less time, so we are going to see how to speed up the shutdown of Windows .
You already know first-hand that Microsoft offers us a good number of customizable functions to adapt the system to our needs. In this way we have the possibility to optimize the operation of the software to the maximum as we notice that it loses some performance. This is something that, for example, we can carry out with startup, a process that can take from a few seconds to several minutes.
In this sense, one of the most interesting steps we can take is to eliminate startup programs from the task manager. However, along these same lines we want to focus on shutting down, that is, we are going to make the operating system shut down faster. Say this is something we are going to achieve by making a change to the system registry.
How to make Windows shut down faster
To give you an idea of the changes that we are going to make next, we will say that we are going to make an important internal modification. Specifically, what we are about to do is change the time interval that Windows waits before closing the applications when turning off the PC. This is something that we achieve in a simple way by modifying a value of the aforementioned register. Of course, as we have already commented on so many occasions, before modifying this Windows registry, we recommend making a backup copy of it.
The reason for this is that it is a very important section and that if we damage it we can seriously harm the entire PC , something that we will see later. Therefore, what interests us in this case to speed up the shutdown is to edit the HungAppTimeout value. This is a value that by default is 5 seconds, because it corresponds to the time that Windows waits before closing applications on shutdown. In this way, it is interesting to know that we have the possibility of increasing or decreasing this waiting time according to the needs of each one.
For this that we tell you, all we have to do is change the data of the mentioned value, HungAppTimeout, in the Windows registry editor.
Reduce the default wait time when shutting down the system
So that you understand what we are going to carry out next, we are going to give an example. Suppose one or two applications are running at the moment and we click the button to shut down the operating system. In this case, Windows may display a message saying that those applications are open and are preventing the system from shutting down.
However, it is also possible to deactivate this message that we are commenting on. But in the same way we can change the waiting time of the system to close these applications manually, which is precisely what we are going to modify next in order to be able to close Windows more quickly. We have already told you that we will achieve this from the registry editor, but first of all we are going to open it and make a backup copy of it.
Back up the registry before changing it
To enter this section that we are commenting on, we just have to type the regedit command in the search box on the taskbar.
Once we have the registry editor window on the screen, to make the backup that we are commenting on, we go to the File menu. Here we find several options, but what interests us in this case is Export . With this, what we achieve is to create a file that contains a backup copy of our entire registry. Thus, in the event that we touch something that we should not and we damage it, we only have to return to this editor and again from the File menu option, we import that same file.
From here we can make the necessary changes that will allow us in this case to accelerate the shutdown of the Microsoft operating system . From this same editor window, now what we have to do is locate the entry that we discussed earlier in order to modify the waiting time, in this case to reduce it, as you can imagine.
Reduce the HungAppTimeout value to shut down Windows faster
Well, to locate an entry that interests us in this case we only have to go to the following path in the Windows registry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Control Panel/Desktop
Once in it, we have to take a look at the right panel of the window, where we find a good number of entries that we can modify. However, the one that interests us in this case is the so-called HungAppTimeout, as we discussed earlier.
In this way, what we are going to do now is reduce the value of this entry, we only have to click twice on it to modify it. By default we find that the Value Information field is set to 4000. To give us an idea, this initially corresponds to the four seconds that Windows waits to close applications in the shutdown process . Therefore, to accelerate it, all we have to do is reduce this time.
For example, we can set it to 1000 or 2000 to gain two or three seconds when shutting down the operating system and have a program running. Although this period of time seems somewhat inconsequential, we will see how when the aforementioned situation occurs, the reduction of the waiting time is important. It may also be the case that, for whatever reason, we need this time to be longer. The solution is just as simple, since we will only have to reopen this registry entry and modify its value, for example, to 7000 or 8000.
