Works fine here, XP PRO + SP2. Exits cleanly with no process active, I can launch and exit as many times as I like and it always runs and exits cleanly!

As for the size, compressing it with UPX will get a 6mb file, EXE seems fine compressed as the game seems fine when playing.

right i think i might know whats going on.

maciozo has uploaded two versions, looking at this thread, and i think some places still have the old one, becasue i downloaded maciozo's crack from a different site (dont ask me where can't remember) and it works perfectly

if you don't need to cra*ck the game .... go to Medieval 2 -Total War thread...
there is a very good MAXI image that I hope will work for all versions of the game.

Just double checked again, crack works absolutely fine, but process doesn't end when you exit from the game and it just sits there using 80mb of memory.

Using a fresh install of XP Pro with SP2

Not sure why it doesn't end on your system, maybe you have the notorious M$ update KB917422 installed, this is known to screw some games.

I do have that update installed, will try uninstalling it now

update uninstalled - no effect medieval2.exe still continues to show in the processes box after the game is shut down

The not ending process was common mostly for DirectX errors (sometimes they are unnoticable) or some DLL fuckups. Please try running the game (with update 1.1) without the crack & using the original EXE. Your help will be very valuable here.
Also, please try to update your DirectX to the latest December06 release which can be downloaded here:
EDIT: I've cooked a little launcher for you. Save the following text as launcher.bat, put the file inside game's folder & run the game with it. After quiting Medieval II, the process will be killed automatically. I know that is a crappy solution, but it works.

many thanks for your reply, it is very much appreciated.

Updating directx didn't help i'm afraid.
Switching back to the original .exe means that the game works fine and the process is killed on exit
Using the text above as a .bat file doesn't work either as the process isn't killed when you exit the game

Also, forgot to add that i've also tried the following;

Exited/shutdown AV (NOD32)
Shutdown firewall (XP SP2)
Updated graphics card drivers (now on ATI 6.12)
Underclocked CPU to check for overheating

that's really strange. added "forced kill" switch to the .bat file (see the previous post) i'll put another fixed EXE here with different fixes so you can test it & see if it'll work for you. thanks for your cooperation :)

The thanks are all for you my friend, your hard work is very much appreciated. Will be more than happy to test any exe posted :)

here you go :) the 3rd version of crack. 2 new routines patched, unlinked URLMON.dll & added launcher (with forced process kill). for those that have the previous crack & it's working, this new one is not required

Thanks very much for this, unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be any improvement.

If i run it via the .exe the process doesn't close when the game exits. If i run via the bat file the CMD window stays open and the process doesn't close.

Sorry for causing so many problems :(

LOL, you're not causing any problems at all. I hope that some scene group will release a real crack for it. Still, it's a very ironical thing since quite a lot ActiveMARK protected games had quiting problems (those with AM v5.3) when they were... uncracked :D But when I fixed them, all those quitting problems were gone.
Thanks for your help - I'll try to find a solution, but in later time. Cheers :)

EDIT: A small suggestion - try running in different compatibility modes, maybe it will help...