Cannot shut down

I just purchased my imac last week. I am trying to shut down my computer so I can go to sleep.  Everytime I try to shut it down a window pops up and it reads "can not shut down programs are still operating go to finder."  I have no idea how to fix this so I can shut down my mac can you please help me??

There is a big difference between shutting down your iMac which requires that all applications be quit, and sleeping your computer which keeps everything in its current state with the display off and the rest of the circuitry in power saving mode.
Is there a reason you are trying to shut the system down completely instead of putting it to sleep? If you select shutdown and the system is giving you that prompt the system is indicating that there are applications open that have unsaved documents or open dialog boxes that need attention.
Since you indicated that you bought your iMac last week I am assuming that you are running Mac OS X Lion (10.7.x). If you look at the dock screenshot below some of the applications have a glowing dot below their icon. The dots indicate that the application is open. If you selected shutdown and were not successful just click on the icons with the dots and you'll be able to see whether you have an application that needs attention. My personal recommendation is to just put the iMac to sleep so that when you wake up your computer will be ready for your right where you left off simply by pressing a key on the keyboard.

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