On shutdown: Connections Tray/Explorer fail to end...

This began with latest XP maintenance. The laptop is an old IBM A31
Thinkpad 512M XP/SP2, AVG, Spybot, Adaware protected, plus Windows
firewall...running DSL through covad via modem through Linksys
router...

On shutdown, now, we consistently get popups for Connections Tray and
Explorer not responding and must End Program to proceed with shutdown.

I've Googled alternatives: trimmed startup list to the bare minimum
(per some suggestions), run extra virus/anti-spyware scans (including
other products) per other suggestions...no luck.

My last-ditch was to regedit and cut the times for killing apps at
shutdown...but this isn't really a solution, just a convenient
bandaid.

I thought I'd check here, just in case...Anyone got a better hint?

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