Kill Frozen Windows Apps Easily

I don't kill my processes, my processes kill me.

I kill by the executable's name using NirCmd integrated into launchy
but I will also add this to my folder of nifty shortcuts

metalmarious

Any similar icon shortcut hacks like this?

I think I'll just stick to using the Task Manager like I have been the past few years. :)

@jsmorley:

sounds like OSX

gmerin

Also works with Executor

Command: CMD
Parameters:/K taskkill.exe /f /fi "status eq not responding"

Works like a charm.

Eh, good ol' Process Explorer always does the job for me.

Kill process/kill process tree.

Simple as that.

Christian Velasquez

Windows 7 recovers gracefully about 99.9% of the time without any need for task manager. Just click on the close window "x" button on any "Not Responding" app and Windows 7 will offer to close or restart it, (your choice) and even will do a quick search to see if it can find a solution (mostly doesn't, but nice idea).

The only time I even have to use task manager is with a couple of full screen directx games where you can't alt-tab / alt-esc out if they hang.

jsmorley

Saw this on Tekzilla, already have used it once :)

spyware8908

The problem I have is that the app that stops responding the most for me is Windows Explorer (not IE)! I've got a corrupted driver somewhere on my HP Laptop with Vista.

Sounds like a good shortcut for the occasional time I have another app that freezes.

Hg00000

What happens when your computer finds itself in one of those annoying situations where one program stops responding and it has a run-down effect to other programs which also claim to not respond. Yet killing the "bad" process normally sparks the others right back up? This presumably kills every one of them?

b0ring

It would take longer for me to do this than kill the 1 app a year that freezes on me.

@Christian Velasquez: Extended Task Manager here... Same results, cooler graphs that I never look at...

@[home.wanadoo.nl] Just extract to c:\windows

Willeh

@Christian Velasquez: Same here, never failed me yet.

joandrade

@dchall8: maybe the best way is to just uninstall, reinstall, using Revo Uninstaller.

qrius

problem is, when my processes stick, I can't bring anything up, not even move my mouse! how do I deal w/ that?

qrius

I made this autohotkey script to bind Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to kill the active application. Works great for those buggy full-screen applications (read: games) that won't let you alt+tab or open the task manager!

;**** KILL ACTIVE APP ****

^!Backspace::
WinGet, active_pid, PID, A
Process, Close, %active_pid%
return

Or you could configure your OS to do it automatically using built-in functionality as seen at [free.xiaoyenzi.com] among other places.

Nice tip, thanks lifehacker! I really like these tiny tricks that you guys post. This is similar to the show/hide hidden files trick and the restore point trick from a while back. I use those all the time. I don't feel like my sfotware freezes often, but I will keep this in mind.

@somewhiteguy:
command: taskkill.exe
parameters: /f /fi "status eq not responding"

This works also.

@somewhiteguy: i luv my executor, fantabulous program.

Is this any better at killing processes than Task Manager?

Since January, and I don't know what changes were installed, I cannot keep a browser running longer than a few hours. I've tried Firefox, IE, Safari, and Chrome. When the browser stops accessing the Internet, it cannot be killed using Task Manager. The only solution I've found is to restart the computer, and Logging Off during the restart takes about a minute all by itself. Sometimes the browser only lasts a matter of minutes. Two hours is about what I've come to expect, though. I'm convinced it is not the fault of the browser, but danged if I can track it down. It sort of has to be one of the libraries that supports each of the browsers. Once one browser is locked out, all the other browsers are locked out and so are other Internet programs (like email). Sorry for venting here but nobody seems to want to help with this. Maybe one of Lifehacker's genius readers has already solved the problem. I'm not the only one.

Is this for XP? Tried it on my desktop in XP and it says "The file taskkill.exe cannot be found" ?

grem28

@dchall8:
1.Disable any software firewall
2.If that wasn't the problem connect the computer directly to the modem
3.If the router wasn't the problem...reinstalling everything will make you feel clean (and eliminate malware)

orlo

@gmerin: forget OSX, sounds like vista

ValdemarAloeus

@Hg00000: Process explorer might let you restart explorer

orlo

@qrius: ctrl-alt-delete to task manager sometimes will help

orlo

@b0ring: The problem for me is usually lack of memory (firefox being the obvious culprit), which is why I sometimes keep a command prompt open to kill that one program. I copied "tskill.exe" over from one of the windows xp installations, works better than taskkill because the command is shorter.

But of course, now I just keep process explorer open, kills most programs with only one key, yet allowing me to check memory usage. And of course it has the ability to suspend processes.

Hint: If it is explorer which slows you down, just close it. Use an application launcher instead.

unekdoud

@jharrell: oh that would be linux.

jharrell

x kill? way easier... and targeted. What if I want a process that is "not responding" to continue chewing while another is the desired kill? hmm. I'm assuming this script will kill off any non responsive task.

jharrell

This was on TekZilla awhile ago.

manutdfan539

Doesn't work for me. :<

@tjmarkham3: In Soviet Russia, at any rate ;).

AtomFury

When something freezes on me, I use 'Kill Process' been using this little app for years, works great....
[orangelampsoftware.com]

Fullbug

@Christian Velasquez: Exactly the same here...I discovered that it was much more succsesful that clicking End Task endlessly just a couple of days ago..

Anyone else hate when explorer stops responding?

No idea why that happens, but it does sometimes. o.O

great tip. thanks.

Someone watches too much Tekzilla

Verdi R-D

Does anybody know where you can get the icon shown in the pic

OpalKosovar

pssst.. Task Manager :o

Want more? Process Explorer!

ThaMofo

@[greasypc.blogspot.com]

radiophage

Vista does the same thing.

MorganJahooby

@grem28: Are you using XP Home? taskkill.exe is not included with that edition.

radiophage

Awesome tip! @grem28 taskkill.exe is only available in XP Pro and not Home edition if I'm not mistaken.

MichelleStolo

@joandrade: It actually has for me once. Apparantly SpyBot has some sort of built-in anti-kill feature, since it didn't end a few days ago when it froze and I ended up having to wait. And yes, I used Kill Process on Process Explorer...

Makoto

@CntRational: I use:
%windir%\System32\rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState
...to go into S3 (suspend to RAM) standby mode. It's on my RocketDock bar.

Thanks, my only older laptop freezes up all the time.

_Ko0LaiD_

I find that the annoying ones that won't let you Alt-Tab out will still let you hit the Windows key to show the tasbar, then close away...

LorenzoCosby

Why not the good old Taskmanager? STRG+ALT+DEL and kill the not-responding-Task.

RoyImbibe

I tried this and it killed every Chrome tab I had open, even though there were no issues with them.

AmabelleHaruhism

It gave me an "oops plugin problem" on chrome, but it isn't something that reloading the page don't fix

WynneChautauqua

Thanks for this.

MortonNerpy

WTF are you guys talking about? Every time this happens to me (almost never) I just ctrl+alt+del, go to the processes tab and hit end process on the frozen app. It works every time instantly no BS. Do you guys have screwed up computers or are you just really lazy? Although a lot of the suggestions in the comments don't sound like they save any time at all.

shibathedog

http://www.computerhope.com/taskkill.htm Appears not to work for xp home, cannot verify

AliDoe

In Soviet Russia, process kill you!

I use unlocker. )I put the CNET link just because I trust them more than most.)

[download.cnet.com]

[ccollomb.free.fr]

steelew

@gmerin: sounds like an obvious troll.

PotentChr0nic

That's if windows is not frozen it self lol.

I think xKill is the best. It lets you target the process to kill by clicking anywhere on its window. It springs into action with the key sequence "Ctl-Alt-Backspace" and waits for you to click a window. You can hit escape if you change your mind.

[lifehacker.com]

It's useful in getting rid of any process (not just the unresponsive ones). I find it specially useful in getting rid of windows that IE pops up at times that are otherwise impossible to get rid of (other than via the Task Manager).

ziffusion

Good..
It kills all process tree, no need to go Task Manager.
Thanks :)

smith134

This looks almost too easy. Thanks very much for the tip. I could really use this.

GardenaSparrows

Nothing that relies on the GUI (or indeed keyboard/mouse input) will work when those items are themselves unresponsive. Something that almost always works is to install sshd via cygwin, then use pslist and pskill from the Microsoft Sysinternals toolkit to smite problem apps. If that doesn't work, you can soft reboot the system from the commandline. Every year I find a few situations where the GUI just stops working, but sshd still happily takes connections from one of my other machines.

curby

Just make the shortcut, go to shortcut properties, change icon, and it will pop up a window with many different icons in it. the one used in the pic is in there.

AlessandraMerope

Winpatrol is free, and its process kill feature in its task manager is way more effective and faster than windows...love it.

AlstonWabba

@Willeh:

I found out about the Home edition exception and downloaded the app. It wouldn't install or I couldn't get it settled in the right folder. Could there be a problem with killtask and Firefox?

pjarchrn