Lately, my laptop computer hasn't been shutting down properly. It stays on the screen that says "shutting down" but it never shuts down. I have to unplug it and take out the battery. This only happens some of the time. Does anybody know what's going on?

rather than ripping your laptop apart ... errr, removing the battery, just keep the power button pressed for about 5 seconds, this will power down the computer. as for the problem at hand, start here: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/slowshutd...

Try a "direct" shutdown. Create a new shortcut and put this %windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t 0 in the "Target" box. Then in the "Start in" box put %windir% It's a good day when you learn something

"just keep the power button pressed for about 5 seconds, this will power down the computer." So it does. That's neat. I also tried what you suggested, Dan, and so far it seems to work. Time will tell, though, because like I said, it only happens occasionally.