Some basic registry settings to help with speeding up Windows shutdown in XP.
=========== START OF SpeedUpShutdown.reg ===================
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
"HungAppTimeout"="1000"
"WaitToKillAppTimeout"="1000"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="1000"
=========== END OF SpeedUpShutdown.reg =====================
Reference: http://www.computing.cc/windows-xp/how-to-speed-up-shutdown-on-windows-xp/