message "saving your settings" for hours - will not shut down
 

HI there: I have read some posts on this site re the problem I have but still don't know what to do! I think it must be a software issue along with a mistake I made trying to add virtual memory (which I did) since I was getting THAT awful message... so now the computer is on, won't shut off manually or automatically with the message "saving your settings" this is a Toshiba I bought fr a friend with WINXP2. I have no disc to reboot or reload (or whatever) the system sooo what do I do before paying a tech to fix this? thank you!

Windows stops responding during Windows XP shut down

How To Increase Shutdown Time So That Processes Can Quit Properly in Windows XP