MacBook Pro won't shutdown or restart properly

I am having difficulty shutting down or restarting my core 2 duo macbookpro. When trying to shutdown or restart normally (either by clicking on the blue apple logo on the menu bar and clicking shutdown/restart or by tapping the power button and clicking shutdown/restart), OSX closes all running programs, everything (icons, menubar, dock, etc) disappears except for the wallpaper, and then the screen turns a little dim like the mac is about to shutdown and the little circle (progress) shows it's running. So far everything is completely normal. the problem is that it stays that way and never restarts or shuts down. eventually, i have to restart manually by holding down the power button. I've waited for long periods of time - nothing happens.
moreover, I have to say that this is not after I've installed anything. it's just the way it is & this laptop is completely new.
ANY type of help or solution would be great.
Thanks.

Sounds like you've got an application hanging on shutdown.
Try this:
Close all applications. Open Activity Monitor in Applications>Utilities. Have only "My Processes" showing. Sort them by name. Do you see any addons or extra applications you've installed in this list? If so, end the process. If you see something you don't recognize at all, ask about it. Once you've killed all the processes related to addons, try shutting down the computer.
~Lyssa

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