Question : "Preparing to Configure Windows"

I have a Compaq laptop with Windows 7 Home Premium, upgraded from Vista Home Premium.  Lately it has gotten into a routine where during shut or sometimes start-up, it gets hung up  and says "Preparing to Configure Windows, Do Not Turn Off Your Computer".  The hard drive is busily running.  I have let it churn away for over an hour.  If a brute force a shutdown and restart, it usually starts OK.  But during shutdown or maybe the next start-up it happens again.  It happened before and after the latest Windows Update.  A couple of times when this occurred, it cleared itself and continuted to start-up or shutdown after a couple of minutes.  But usually it just goes on and on.  Any ideas out there.

Thanks!

Answer : "Preparing to Configure Windows"

That download I sent you to does take *ages* to install so I'd still give it another go.  Turn your antivirus off first so it's not scanning everything as well and slowing things down further!

If the system still misbehaves afterwards, open a command prompt and enter the command:

sfc /scannow

That takes a while to run too.