Hi! Ed,

On 09 Dec 16 21:05, you wrote to All:

 EV> Does anyone know where XP stores the file it makes when either
 EV> choosing the Turn Off or Hibernate options and it says "Savings
 EV> Settings....."?

I don't know about Hibernate, Ed.  I've never used it, ever.  But I had
some fun this afternoon & evening, playing with a couple of XP toys out
of VirtualBox...

 EV> I would like to Delete that file using a Ubuntu Live CD so hopefully
 EV> the next time I turn the XP pc Off it will make a new file without any
 EV> settings in it that was held over from times when I was having
 EV> troubles when XP wasn't behaving as it should.

Mmm... I'd recommend having access to an older backup, first...

My tests involved attaching the C: drive of each of the /other/ vBox as the
D: drive of each XP, in turn.  That way each of the other's C: drive could
be explored without any messy booting of the drives, thereby causing
additional file writes.  Then I used Total Commander on each XP to _search_
for files updated just on or after the shutdown command's time (up to 5
minutes later, which is ridiculous of course as a shutdown typically only
takes less than a minute).

The first XP vBox PC is your basic out of the box thing (from 2003?)
without any updates (that I know of), or, service packs applied (none, nil,
nada). It's been a test PC in that state since I got my hands on the CD. 
Its shutdown resulted in 12 files being updated.

The second XP vBox has been updated to death (nearly, I think), up to SP2. 
Its shutdown updated 41 files.  A lot of those were in the Avast tree, and
other general software packages.

From a rough eyeball inspection, the most likely culprit common to both PCs
is the NTUSER.DAT file.  BTW, on each PC there were multiple versions of
NTUSER.DAT doo-hickeys updated, in different directories.  That's why I
commented on your needing a good backup.  (And, from a time before you were
having your troubles.)

Complete file lists and a couple of happy snaps (screen window captures)
are available in email, if you want.  Just tell me.

Cheers,
Paul.

... All stressed out and no one to choke.
--- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox