It seems as if my computer is taking longer and longer to shut down.  There have been no changes in my Startup, nor do I leave programs open when I shut down my computer.
Often I wait a minute for the "SAVING YOUR SETTINGS" screen to go off, and then another half a minute for the "WINDOWS IS SHUTTING DOWN" screen to go off and finally shut the computer off.  It never took this long before.  Any suggestions at what may be causing this and what I might try to speed my shutdown off?  Thank you.
(Win XP Pro - Service Pack 3 (!) - 2.52 Ghz - 1 GB Ram)

I do not have a solution, but have the same problem.  My PC is now taking over 12 minutes to shut down.  It seems to me that the major time increase has been since installing the SP3 update.

CNET had some recommendations at the following link, but I did not get a solution to my problem there.

Link:  http://ct.cnet-ssa.cnet.com/cl.....and=CNET-SSA&s=5

(Win XP Pro SP3 - 3.0 Ghz - 2 GB Ram)

Solution found!  The dramatic slowdown on my computers was due to Zone Alarm Security Suite new release.  When they released a fix (in beta, but it works), the problem has been cleared up.