There are times when a program leaves the computer hanging and we must close it, but in the traditional way it is not possible, so we must force it to turn off. We are going to see what are the ways we have to make said tool stop being operative.
It has happened to all of us the fact of having a program on the screen and that suddenly it has been totally hung, without allowing us not to be able to do anything else.
In those cases, you have to force its closure and that is where this article comes from, about the possibilities that we have at that moment so that the tool that has blocked the PC is no longer present and we can continue with something else, or even run the same thing again what we were doing.
On many of the occasions in which this happens to us, we do not solve anything by giving the button that every application has to close or directly there is no possibility of pressing it. That is why it is important to know how we can force it to close and the more we know, the better.
By having alternatives, we will always be able to have much more freedom to achieve it, since it may happen that the one we usually use, in this particular case, does not work as it should, so one of the others will have to be done.
the best known
The best known method and the one we have all used more than once, is also the simplest and the one that will take the fewest steps and time.
This is a method that does not have any kind of secret or convoluted steps, or anything like that, since it is about using the keyboard with the combination of certain keys.
The only thing we have to do is press Alt + F4 while the program is active and not minimized. There are times when Windows can take a while for this command to work, it all depends on the level of memory used by the application that is causing the crash.
Task Manager
Obviously if the keyboard shortcut works, it will always be easier, but there are times when it does not have the results we expect, so we are forced to carry out other types of solutions.
We can also use the Task Manager to solve the problem of a program that is blocking the computer.
All we have to do is the steps that we are going to tell you right now:
- We are going to press a series of keys at the same time. Specific Ctrl + Shift + Esc to then click on Task Manager.
- Once inside the Task Manager, we must make sure that we are in the tab Processes. If not, we must look for it at the top.
- Once inside Processes we click on the program that is giving us problems with the right mouse button.
- In the drop-down that appears we must click on Finish homework.
Once we click, we will see how the program disappears from the list of Processes and also what Windows 11 is, that is, we have closed it forcibly.
This does not mean that we cannot reopen it, something that can be done without the slightest problem.
Command Prompt
Another part of Windows that we are going to be able to use is the Command Prompt.
There are more steps to take and it may be a bit more confusing for some, but it is also an effective way to force close any type of program.
The steps we must follow are the following:
- We click on the Windows 11 search icon, which is none other than a magnifying glass located in the Taskbar of the operating system.
- Once pressed, we only have to write cmd and click on Command Prompt, but as Administrator. This option appears on the right side of the window that we have right in front of us.
- We will be asked if we want to allow this application to make changes to your device. In order to continue with the correct steps, we must click yes.
- Now we need to write the command task list and press the Enter once written.
- Now we must locate the program that we want to close from the list that comes out.
- We are scrolling down to the bottom where we must write the following command: taskkill /im ProgramName.ese /t /f (Replacing ProgramName.exe, with the name of the program that is blocked and its extension. We must make sure that it is the exact name with which it appears in the list that we have just seen).
- Once written it’s time to press Enter.
Direct access
We can create a shortcut in Windows 11 that allows us to force close an application.
To achieve this we must follow a few simple steps that, although it may seem complicated, it is not at all. We will use the same command as in the previous case, although, for many users, it may seem less complicated.
You just have to do the following:
- Click with the right mouse button on the desktop, in a part where there is nothing, and select New Item – Shortcut.
- In the pop-up window that appears we write taskkill /f /fi “Status equals not responding”
- Now what we’re going to do is give in Following to assign a name and apply the changes, for example, Close app.
- It’s time to click To finalize.
- Now we will see how our direct access has been generated on the desktop.
- We place the pointer on it and press the right mouse button to choose Properties of all the possibilities that are presented to us.
- In the pop-up window we go to the field Shortcut key.
- We use the physical keyboard to assign the keyboard shortcut that we have seen above, applying the changes and accepting when we are done.
Now, every time we press this shortcut, the application will be forced to close.
The command used is the same as in the previous case, as we have already discussed. It is distributed in three parts and each of them perform an action such as:
- taskkill: This command completely shuts down the process.
- /F: Allow the application or program to be forcefully closed.
- /fi: makes this process only run in the processes that meet the condition that we have marked.
These are the ways we have right now to forcefully close an application that has been blocked for us.
As you can see, we have options for all tastes, so if one doesn’t work, for whatever reason, we can move on to another until we solve the problem.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism