Buzz
Sometimes, a program fails to respond to any commands, and you're forced to shut it down manually. There are various ways to do this, depending on the program's state and your operating system.
Steps
Using Task Manager (Windows)
Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Del. This keyboard shortcut opens a screen with four options: Lock, Switch User, Sign out, and Task Manager.
Click on Task Manager. The Task Manager on Windows provides information about the processes, programs, and services running on your system.
Go to the Task Manager window. If the window does not appear after clicking the Task Manager link, it may be hidden behind the frozen program. Try pressing Alt+Tab ↹ to switch to the Task Manager window.
- To prevent this issue from recurring, click on the Options tab in the top-left corner of the Task Manager window and select Always on top from the drop-down menu.
Locate and click on the unresponsive program. The program will likely be listed under the Apps section and marked with the Not responding tag in the Status column.
Click End Task. Once the program is selected and highlighted, click the End Task button in the bottom-right corner of the Task Manager window. Click End Program in the new dialog box when prompted.
Troubleshooting
Click on the Processes tab. After ending tasks from the Applications tab/list, you may need to terminate the actual process associated with it. In Windows 8, you will need to click on More Details at the bottom of the Task Manager window to display the Processes tab.
Find and click on the process. The Processes list is longer than the Applications list because it also includes background processes. You may have to search a bit to locate the process you need.
Click End Process. Once you’ve found and selected the correct process, click the End Process button in the bottom-right corner of the Task Manager window.
Use Command Prompt (Windows)
Open Command Prompt as administrator. Press ⊞ Win and type cmd. Right-click on the Command Prompt icon and select Run as Administrator from the drop-down menu.
- Select Yes when prompted in the pop-up dialog box.
Close the program. Type taskkill /im filename.exe in the command prompt window and press ↵ Enter. Replace 'filename' with the name of the program. For example, to close iTunes, you would replace it with 'iTunes.exe'.
Use Force Quit (Mac)
Open Force Quit. Press Command + Option + Escape to open the Force Quit window. A list of running programs will appear.
Force close the program. Locate and select the unresponsive program, then click the Force Quit button at the bottom-right corner of the window.
Tips
- If none of the previous steps work, you may need to perform a hard reboot. While this carries the risk of losing unsaved data, it might be your only option. Press and hold the power button until the computer shuts down completely, then wait a few minutes before turning it back on.
