Preload delays shutting down

Hi I am puzzled as to what is going on with preload during a system shutdown. A lot of time passes with messages announcing that preload is "laying out" various applications. This is irritating. Waiting a long time for a computer to shut down is more frustrating than waiting for it to start up. I am curious to know what is going on during this phase. I would especially like to know if there is any way to bypass this step in the shutdown process without breaking preloading entirely? Alistair