Terminate program that has taken over the screen

Question

I've been using Windows forever, but one thing that has annoyed me is how hard it is to terminate misbehaving full-screen applications. In Linux, I can just switch over to terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and use the terminal to forcefully close a misbehaving program. In Windows, this seems to be only possible using task manager. If a frozen window is set to stay-on-top and full-screen mode, Alt+Tab and Alt+F4 don't work and I can't even use the Task Manager. If I had important work in the background, say, and I'd forgotten to save it, I can't just restart the computer!

What do you do in this circumstance?

score 26 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 18 '16 at 17:03

26

If you're using Windows 10, you can switch to another desktop using Win+Tab and then open the task manager in desktop 2 to kill the full screen application in desktop 1. This works even if the application is set to stay-on-top.

answered Dec 18 '16 at 17:03

sveinungf

369

score 16 · Answer 2 · edited Oct 04 '16 at 16:41

This happened to me today on Windows 10 when the Snipping Tool froze while making the capture selection. I was able to get the Task Manager to show up by the following:

Press the Windows key, then type Task Manager + Enter to open the Task Manager
Press the Windows key again to get the Taskbar in focus
Right click the system tray icon for the Task Manager and select "Always on top"

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '20 at 13:48

Use AutoHotKey and bind a shortcut to WinKill, A

This command first makes a brief attempt to close the window normally. If that fails, it will attempt to force the window closed by terminating its process.

WinTitle: If this is the letter A and the other 3 window parameters are blank or omitted, the active window will be used.

I compiled this one-liner to an .EXE which you can download here.

#!Q::WinKill,A

Move KillActiveWindow.exe to your autostart folder. It will reside in your Windows tray.
Close active windows/full-screen applications with Win+Alt+Q.

enter image description here

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited May 05 '17 at 05:28

6

If task manager won't come to the front, it's possible "always on top" is unchecked.

Ctrl+Shift+Esc to bring it open, hit Alt, and you should see the file menu of the task manager appear. Press → to go to options, ↓ to select always on top, and Space to enable it.

edited May 05 '17 at 05:28

answered May 05 '17 at 04:41

Ryan Gunn

61

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 18 '20 at 02:37

6

Try using command prompt.

You can kill tasks using command prompt just like Linux terminal.

Windows Key+R (Run)
type 'cmd' and click enter
type the command tasklist, press enter. you can see all tasks running in your system.
kill particular task/application by taskkill /f /im taskname

E.g.: If you want to kill notepad, type taskkill /f /im notepad.exe

edited Apr 18 '20 at 02:37

phuclv

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answered Aug 15 '13 at 10:22

Harikrishnan

1,682

Protector one · Answer 6 · 2017-02-06T10:32:03.303

If you can start Task Manager with Ctrl + Shift + Esc, but it isn't displayed because the culprit software is full screen, here is something you can try.

Use Alt + Tab to give the Task Manager focus. You still won't see it, but now it can accept keyboard input. Use your cursor to hover over Task Manager's icon in Windows' Task Bar: this will hopefully cause the Task Manager to be revealed. Now use your keyboard to end the process: this can usually be done by pressing the Arrow Keys to reach the culprit application, then press Delete. You might have to press Tab once to put focus on the application list first.

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Apr 03 '16 at 19:05

2

The easiest way is to Cntrl + shift + esc and then when it opens go into the process (little triangle bottom right) and right click "task manager", you can set it to always be in front, this brings it forward where you can access it.

edited Apr 03 '16 at 19:05

Abraxas

4,486

answered Apr 02 '16 at 14:05

Spartananator

37

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Mar 13 '21 at 12:09

2

I had to hit the Windows key, then in the search bar, type:

c:\windows\system32\cmd /c taskkill /f /im snippingtool.exe

edited Mar 13 '21 at 12:09

phuclv

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answered May 17 '18 at 15:03

FMPA

29

phuclv · Answer 9 · 2021-03-13T01:43:34.093

Task Manager has an always on top feature to make it appear above the offending app. You don't need to use the mouse to enable it, just open Task Manager with Ctrl+Shift+Esc then turn it on by Alt+O-A. Even better, the option is sticky, so after enabling it will stay until you turn it off, and the next time you open Task Manager it'll still be on top

In Windows 10 the task manager is even more special: no other app can be drawn over it, not even other always-on-top apps. See Is Task Manager a special kind of 'Always on Top' window for windows 10?

See also How do I kill a program that hung with an always-on-top fullscreen window?

score 1 · Answer 10 · edited May 15 '20 at 19:25

1

Pressing the following sequence should work if screen snip or a similar program freezes:

Alt+PrtScn then Alt+F4

I may have done

❖ Win+Tab

And sent the app to a new desktop before this so try both for luck!

If this doesn't work, I suggest a reboot.

edited May 15 '20 at 19:25

Run5k

16,463
24
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answered May 14 '20 at 22:47

Seth C

11

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 26 '19 at 12:42

Here's a little autohotkey script with GUI, which will TERMINATE a process instead of peacefully closing it, so instead of WinKill here, we will use Process:

^!Numpad9::
  WinGet, ActvWndwID, PID, A
  WinGetTitle, ActvWndwNm , A
  MsgBox, 4, Kill, %ActvWndwNm% ?
  IfMsgBox Yes
  Process, Close, %ActvWndwID%
return

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 23 '20 at 15:56

I found an unconventional solution in Windows 10; I pressed the Windows key (the only thing that was still responding at the time, the snipping tool had taken over the whole screen), and I told it to restart. It popped up a screen where it tells you what programs the restart is waiting to close, I waited for 5 or 10 seconds and then canceled the restart. Only a few programs remained open, and the Snipping Tool was finally closed. I don't know if everyone's computer will give the user adequate time to allow programs to close and then cancel, if your computer is fast it might restart quicker. I am not sure.

score -1 · Answer 13 · edited Feb 19 '21 at 14:15

-1

I had this issue with Snipping Tool. I couldn't resolve it with any of the above but finally tried using a Snipping Tool keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Print Screen) and that somehow kicked it out of whatever it was stuck in.

edited Feb 19 '21 at 14:15

phuclv

30,396
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answered Sep 14 '18 at 18:37

Laura

1

Terminate program that has taken over the screen

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