Why is Windows hanging during shut down?

This is usually the result of a driver issue (video or ACPI are likely areas to check) or your system is writing a very large restore point. Check your drivers first, then I suggest turning off recovery points to see how your system responds.

Is your SSD quite full?

The SSD I'm using is an Intel 320 120GB model. I have somewhere between 20 - 25GB free - I'm thinking I might move my Steam folder and everything else to my second or third HD to free up some room.

But one thing I've noticed too is that copying files takes forever. I tried to copy a 3.5GB data DVD to my secondary last night, and it took way over half an hour and didn't even come close to finishing. Should I maybe try updating the firmware on my drive? Would that solve it?

go into the system config utility and see what's running under start up and services. start eliminating ( un-checking ) items like anti virus, etc. one at a time and shut down/restart/shut down until you find the program that's "hanging"..........

I had an issue with that where my system totally froze and I couldn't get Windows back up and running - it wouldn't boot past the start screen. And when I went into safe mode and tried to run a system restore - that wouldn't complete, and my system hasn't worked right since. Should I try a reformat and clean install of Windows perhaps?

I figured out the problem - the firmware from my SSD wasn't up to date and Windows wasn't finding a driver for it. But I got all that cleared up now.