It seems like my Vista takes twice as long to shut down compared to a few weeks ago.Is there a way I can see what's going on at shut down?Thanks for any info.

Here's a description of the Vista shutdown process: http://homepages.tesco.net./J.deBoynePolla...wn-process.html

What it basically says is that Windows sends out notice to shutdown running processes.
If the process doesn't respond back to let Windows know that it's stopped - Windows waits....
Then, it'll either lock up or it'll take it's sweet time shutting down.

I'd first check your Event Viewer to see if there are any errors in the Application or System logs underneath the Windows logs category.
Next, I'd monitor the Processes tab of Task Manager to see if there's any excessive activity while shutting down.
You may be able to see if it's a user process by closing all open windows, and exiting the stuff running in the system tray (aka the Notification Area - down by the time in the lower right corner). If it shuts down fine then, then it's one of those things that's hanging it up.