Windows & getting caught up when logging out

Whenever I turn off my computer the shut down process get caught up on the logging off page. It remains on the logging off page until I am forced to press and hold the power button until the machine turns off. How do I fix it?

I think you're having some stuck process that won't exit. Go to control panel > performance ... > advanced in the sidebar > and generate a report. I believe theres a section that tells you the reason for a slow or improper shut down.

When you are in Windows 7, does your sound card work properly? I just posted under the heading 'Sound help' explaining an issue with the lack of sound when I boot into Win 7. I have the same problem as you when I try and shut down. One of the times I saw a screen flash in front of the logging off screen and it said "Playing logoff sound" or similar message so I discovered that if I uninstalled my sound card the logoff was successful. At the next reboot the sound card was found and a successful installation of the driver. Sounds worked and shut down worked with no problems until the next reboot--no sounds and will not shut down. Hope this gives you a place to look and you might be smarter then me and find a solution.

This might help.
Open Regedit (WINDOWS KEY + R on your keyboard), or by clicking Start and typing on the search bar "regedit" without quotes.
Hit Enter
Navigate to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
On the right panel look for the "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" string and change it value to 1000 by right clicking the string and selecting Modify...

The Default Value is 20000
You can modify it down to 1000, rather extreme, I would suggest you start at 2000.