Enable verbose shutdown messages (Vista business and Ultimate only)

This is not really a performance tip per se, but it will let you see what is going on when you shutdown Windows Vista, which could help you boost your shutdown speed. With this tip enabled, Vista will inform you of what is going on behind the scenes on the shutdown screen with text messages.

To enable verbose shutdown messages:

Open the 'start' menu and type 'gpedit.msc' in the search bar. Hit Enter.

In the group policy window, navigate to 'computer configuration\administrative template\system' then scroll down in the right-hand pane until you reach the 'verbose vs. normal status messages' option. Double click it and set the option to 'enable'. Hit ok.