Any computer user has encountered how to close a frozen program. This situation occurs quite often when working on a computer.
In the process of working on a computer, it happens that some program does not respond to user commands. The program does not respond to the mouse, to the keyboard, a window appears with the inscription "the program is not responding".
How do I close a frozen program? Some users immediately press the "Reset" button located on the front of the computer. After that, the Windows operating system restarts.
But this is not recommended. Restarting can adversely affect the operation of the operating system, or some programs running at that moment. After a new start, errors may appear in the work of the program that was running at the time of the abrupt termination of work.
If defragmentation took place at the time of the reboot, then the files that were being processed at that time may be damaged due to the reboot. And if these were any system files, then problems with the operating system may begin.
If problems with the operating system have already begun, then one of the outputs will be until the time of its operational state.
What if the program is not responding?
Let us examine the easiest case first. The program is frozen and does not respond to commands from the computer user. You need to disable the frozen program, for this you need to start the "Task Manager" by pressing simultaneously on the keyboard on the keys "Ctrl" + "Alt" + "Del", in the operating system Windows XP.
In operating systems Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, after pressing these keys, in a new window of the operating system, in the open menu, you will need to select the item "Start Task Manager" at the very bottom, or simultaneously press the keyboard shortcut "Ctrl" + Shift + Esc.
In the Windows operating system, there is a more convenient way to launch the "Task Manager" - right-click on the "Taskbar", and then select "Start Task Manager" from the context menu (In Windows XP, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 - "Task Manager ").
In the "Task Manager" window that opens, enter the "Applications" tab. Usually, opposite the name of the hung program, in the "Status" column, the inscription "Not responding" will be visible.
Next, select the frozen program, and then click on the "End task" button, or select "End task" in the context menu, after pressing the right mouse button. In the warning window, agree to end the process.
After a while, the frozen application will turn off. If this did not happen, go to the "Processes" tab.
Attention! Care will need to be taken in this tab. Don't look for a frozen process if you don't know the exact name of the process!
In the Applications tab, highlight the hung program, and then right-click on Go to Process.
The Task Manager will automatically switch you to the Processes tab and highlight the hung application.
After that, click the "End Process" button, or select the "End Process" item in the context menu, by pressing the right mouse button.
If the frozen program is not displayed in the Applications tab, then you need to enter the Processes tab yourself, find the process of the frozen program and disable it, if you can find this process correctly. If you do not know the name of the process, then it is better not to do anything in this tab!
If these actions did not help, then enter the "Users" tab, click on the "Logout" button, or after clicking the right mouse button, select the "Logout" item in the context menu.
You will have to wait a while until the system completes all processes, and then an operating system window with your account icon appears on your monitor. Click on this icon, and then log back into the operating system to continue working further.
Similar actions can be performed using the Start menu if you have access to the menu. In the "Start" menu, hover the mouse cursor over the "Shutdown" button, and then in the pop-up context menu select the "Log out" item.
Restarting Explorer
One way to bring Windows back to life is to restart Explorer. Windows Explorer is not only a file manager; in the operating system, it is responsible, among other things, for displaying the Desktop and the Taskbar.
First, launch the Task Manager using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys. Then go to the "Processes" tab, then click on the "Image name" button, and then click on the "E" button (in the Latin keyboard layout).
The "explorer.exe" process will be highlighted. End this process using the End Process button or from the context menu.
After that, Explorer will close its work, all icons will disappear from the monitor screen. In the Task Manager, go to the File menu, and in the context menu, select New Task (Run ...).
In the "Create a new task" window, enter "explorer" in the input field, and then click on the "OK" button.
After that, the operating system should work normally.
Removing a hung process from the command line
Run Command Prompt as Administrator. In the command line interpreter, enter the command: "tasklist" (without quotes), and then press the "Enter" key.
You will see a list of all processes running in the operating system. Next to each application name, its "PID" and the amount of memory consumed are displayed.
Remember the "PID" (numbers) of the hung application that needs to be disabled. in the command line interpreter window enter a new command: "taskkill / pid ..." (without quotes). Instead of "..." after the PID, insert the value you remember. Then press the "Enter" key. The hung application will be closed.
other methods
The most difficult case is when a program or game freezes, which has been deployed to the full screen of the monitor. In this case, you will not have access to the Desktop, Task Manager, or the Start menu.
In this case, try to exit the window with the frozen program to the "Desktop" using the keys on the keyboard.
Press the keyboard keys "Alt" + "F4". This keyboard shortcut in the Windows operating system is used to close applications.
You can try to press the "Esc" or "Enter" keys on the keyboard, perhaps, in some cases, you will be able to access the Desktop.
When you press the "Windows" key, sometimes you can also get to the Desktop when the program is frozen.
Try pressing the function keys "F1" - "F12" on the keyboard. In some cases, pressing these keys leads to the opening of the Desktop. What specific function key can help depends on the specific computer; it is different for different computers.
If the Desktop opens, follow the steps described earlier in this article to exit the frozen application.
But, there are situations when the computer does not respond to any user actions. The mouse does not work, the computer does not respond to keystrokes on the keyboard. In this case, a restart of the operating system can no longer be avoided. Then you have to click on the "Reset" button.
Conclusions of the article
If the program is frozen. does not respond to user actions, try to exit the frozen application without rebooting the operating system.
Experienced PC and Internet user
Surely every PC user had a situation when, while working or playing, some programs began to freeze. The window turns gray and a message appears stating that the program is not responding and sometimes it is not enough just to click "close the program".
Today we will analyze a simple way with which you can easily close a program that for some reason does not respond and does not close. You do not need any professional skills, we just repeat the steps described in the article.
Introduction
The first question that comes to mind is "why does the program hang"? There are many reasons for applications to freeze, for example: CPU overheating, insufficient RAM, unstable hard disk operation, hard disk fragmentation, file corruption, etc. Let's look at an example of how to close a frozen program in Windows 7.
For convenience, it is best to divide such situations into two types:
- The program is hanging;
How to close a frozen program
Most probably know about the first situation, but still we will figure out what to do if the program hangs and does not want to close just like that. To do this, you must complete the process itself by performing the following steps:
You should be careful with system processes. In this case, it is better to just restart your computer in order to avoid system errors. Whether the process is systemic can be seen in the "Task Manager" in the "User" column.
Let's move on to the second type. What to do if Explorer is frozen? This is a program that implements a graphical interface, access to files, in a word, it is a Windows graphical shell. In this case, the same "Task Manager" will help us.
Now "Explorer" will be launched again and should work.
As a rule, the unstable work of "Explorer" can indicate the unstable operation of the system and serve as a bell. If such situations occur quite often, then most likely there are viruses on the computer, or system files are damaged.
Good luck with your use!
In the process of using the operating system of the Windows family, you have probably repeatedly encountered a situation when one of the running programs stopped responding to your actions. The mouse cursor turned into a spinning clock or circle and it was no longer possible to close this program. In this article, you will learn how, using the standard Windows Task Manager, you can close a program if it does not close or hangs.
How to close the program through the task manager if it does not close?
So, the first thing to start with is to call the task manager. This is done very simply. Simultaneous pressing of buttons on the keyboard Ctrl + Alt + Delete... In the menu that opens, select "Task Manager".
Also, to call the Task Manager in all versions of Windows, you can right-click on any free space on the taskbar and select "Task Manager" in the menu that opens.
Calling the task manager
In Windows 7, the task manager looks like:
Windows 7 Task Manager
Here, in order to close a program that does not close, you need to find a program that does not close by name on the first tab “Applications”, select it with a single click on the left mouse button and click on the “End task” button. In the window that appears, click "OK" or "Yes". In general, I agree.
If the hung program still does not close, then right-click on it in the Task Manager window and select "Go to Process" in the menu that opens.
Closing a program through processes
Thus, you will find yourself on the "Processes" tab and the process you need will already be selected automatically. You just have to click the "End the process" button and in the window that appears, agree to the closure.
Closing a frozen program through the Windows 7 task manager
In Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, closing an unclosed or frozen program is a little easier.
We call all the same method the task manager, which is described above for Windows 7.
If you see such a dispatcher window, then click on the "Details" button in the lower left corner of the screen.
Windows 8 and Windows 10 Task Manager
Closing a frozen program through the Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 task manager
That's all. Now you know how to use standard Windows tools to close any program that does not close or freezes in Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
How do I close a frozen program? Surely you have already encountered this problem more than once. Many begin to randomly click the mouse anywhere, or press all the keys on the keyboard in a row. And in the end, they simply unplug the cord from the outlet or turn off the power supply if it has a shutdown button. None of these options will lead to anything good, and the latter may even disable the computer permanently.
There are much more efficient and safer ways to close a frozen program. Here is some of them…
close the frozen program using key combinations
Try pressing the following key combinations on your keyboard at the same time:
ALT + F4
CTRL +W
or ESC
Do not rush to press all combinations at once. Press one of the combinations and wait a little. Typically, this trick will close most frozen program windows.
close the frozen program using the taskbar
That's all for now. Write, ask if something is not clear. Good luck to you!
Imagine a situation: you have a program that is so unstable that it constantly freezes. Sometimes such programs do not even allow the computer to reboot, its work has to be terminated abnormally - by pressing and holding the power button for a long time.
First of all, you should try to close the program through the standard task manager. Press Alt + Ctrl + Del, in the "Applications" tab, find the frozen program and click "End" the task.
If that doesn't work, go to the Processes tab, find the stuck process and click End Process. In most cases, the hung program will close after that.
Where the standard task manager fails, a more advanced program will help - Process Explorer. It is released by a third-party developer, but is distributed by Microsoft, is available free of charge, does not require installation, and runs on Windows XP, 7, and 8.
Go to the Microsoft website, download the Process Explorer archive, unpack it and run procexp.exe with administrator rights. You will see a list of all running programs. The processes they perform are shown in a tree-like form. It is likely that the task manager's closing of the problematic program was prevented by the fact that access to the hung process was blocking the process of a higher hierarchy. The first column shows how much processor time each process is consuming. For a hung one, this value will be close to one hundred percent. A hung application can be detected by sorting processes by the amount of processor load or memory consumption.
To kill a frozen process, right-click on it and select the Kill Process option or press the Del button.
If the program is still hanging, you will need to kill the process tree: select it and select the Kill Process Tree option or press the Shift + Del key combination. OS
