What will running my laptop in Safe Mode do?

Safe Mode just disables everything that isn't absolutely necessary to run your machine. It lets you fix problems basically by disabling all the possible causes.

Typically it makes your screen look like crap and some of your devices and software won't work in safe mode. It's usable, but it's not a long term solution.

To enter safe mode, you hit F8 a bunch of times after you see the manufacturer logo when you turn on the machine. To exit safe mode, you simply restart.

One of the benefits of safe mode is that you can do a "System Rollback" to a date when the computer worked fine. You do this by hitting Start then Help. You can do a system restore from that menu to a previous date.

Most likely the machine isn't shutting down because some piece of software is hanging at shutdown.

Go into Control Panels and Add / Remove programs. Uninstall ALL the junk in there you don't use or don't recognize. Then, in the system tray (area down on the lower right by the clock) RIGHT mouse click on all that junk and look for a setting to DISABLE loading at startup.

These things should speed up the PC and help it shot down.

Also a good idea to go to update.microsoft.com and install all updates. This is good for security reasons as well as for fixing shut down bugs.

Also, get an antivirus program like Avast! Home for free from download.com and run it if you don't already have a good antivirus program.

Also get a spyware scanner too like Malware Bytes from www.malwarebytes.org and run it. This is a good idea for everyone, especially those having issues.

These steps solve most of these issues.

I'm surprised pdiddy hasn't broken his F8 key yet hitting it that many times. Press F8 once when lights flash on keyboard.