Slow logoff in Windows XP - hang on "Saving your settings"

If you have problems with Windows XP logging off -- that is, the system inexplicably decides to wait for about a minute before it proceeds with log off or shutdown -- you may want to give Microsoft's UPHclean - User Profile Hive Cleanup Service a spin. It just helped me with this problem that was harassing me for the past full calendar year.


It installs as a service so it'll keep working.

Now, I wonder why this service is not included in Windows themselves, or at least in a service pack - why ship a broken OS?