How many times you have worked on an important project and all of a sudden see the app you are using completely crash or stop working properly? A really boring situation, especially when an application stops working. In most cases, it is not even possible to close it normally. In the next paragraphs, I will explain all the procedures that allow you to forcefully shut down Windows 10 programs.
To forcibly close blocked Windows 10 programs, there are several procedures. You can use a keyboard shortcut, create a shortcut on the desktop, use the Task Manager function, or if you prefer, use the Command Prompt.
How to close a stuck Windows 10 program
The procedure you need to use to force-close Windows 10 programs may vary depending on the type of problem you are having. To close a program in a classic way, just click on the “X” at the top right. If a program is blocked, this operation may not work, so you could try to locate the program icon in the toolbar applications, right-click on it and then click on “Close window.” What if this procedure doesn’t work either? Well, you just have to try to close the application by pressing the ALT + F4 keys on the keyboard.
Forced closure of Windows 10 programs via Task Manager
If the methods described above did not work, you can try to forcefully close the blocked programs, using the Task Manager tool. The latter is none other than the tool called on Windows XP and earlier versions Task Manager.
Through the Task Manager it is possible to control all the processes running on the computer, monitor the amount of resources consumed and when needed, force the closure of blocked programs.
To start the Task Manager tool, press CTRL + ALT + DEL simultaneously from the keyboard, then click on “Task Manager.” Alternatively, right-click on an empty spot on the taskbar and then click on “Task Manager “.
- After starting the Task Manager tool, click on the “Processes” tab ;
- Find the program you want to force close, then right-click on it;
- Click on the item “End activity” or “End process”.
Force quit via Command Prompt
If for any reason the above procedure does not work, you can close a blocked program using the Command Prompt.
To start the Command Prompt :
- Press the WIN + R keys from the keyboard (the WIN key is the one present between the CTRL key and the ALT key);
- Type “cmd”, then press ENTER;
- Alternatively, type in the search field at the bottom left, next to the Start key: “command prompt” and then press ENTER on the keyboard.
After launching the Command Prompt, type the following command: taskkill /im [program name].exethen press ENTER on the keyboard. Instead of [program name], you have to type the exact name of the program you want to close. To know the exact name of the program or process, you can use the Task Manager tool, using the procedure shown in the previous chapter.
Create a quick button for closing blocked Windows 10 programs
An alternative way to close blocked Windows 10 programs is to create a quick button. To do this, the procedure to be carried out is as follows:
- Right-click on an empty spot on the desktop;
- Select the item “New” and then click on the item “Connection” ;
- Type the following line in the path: taskkill/F/FI “STATUS eq NOT RESPONDING ;
- Save the link.
From this moment on, just double-click on the created button to forcefully close all blocked programs.
