Window xp not shutting down

There could be lots of reasons for this, but try the following, its a great place to start.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/shtdwnxp.htm

Also, check your Event Viewer. There's a good chance it will pinpoint the problem.

As the above answer stated there are a lot of things that could cause this. (great link by the way; good info there.)

Be sure to update your spyware and virus definitions, and do a scan for both. Then, run the command "msconfig" from your run menu and go to the startup tab. S

ee if there are any suspicious files that you don't need and uncheck them. There are a ton of websites out there that can help you determine what you need. One that I've recently discovered is http://www.lafn.org/webconnect/mentor/startup/PENINDEX.HTM

Do this too as a possible workaround. Create a shortcut on your desktop and make this the target:

%windir%\System32\SHUTDOWN.exe -f -s -t 01

This calls the shutdown command, forces programs to close, stops services and then shutsdown after one second. See it it works.