Ya know when you shut down Windows and it sits there for a minute and then notifies you that a program isn't responding and what do you want to do about it?

You know how irritating that is to me?

I just want to tell Windows, "I said shut down so SHUT DOWN!"

Well here's the fix. All it takes is a little registry work.

1. Click Start > Run and type regedit, then hit Enter.
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop
3. In the right hand pane, change the following String values:
   
   • AutoEndTasks=1
   • HungAppTimeout=4000
   • WaitToKillAppTimeout=4000
   • WaitToKillServiceTimeout=4000

And if the value doesn't exist just right click and add a new string value of the same name.

Sweet.

More detail here and here.