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Forcefully Terminate Programs Windows XP/Vista/7 [How To]

By on June 2, 2009 (30 Comments)

This quick tip is in response to a couple of readers’ questions on how to forcefully kill a program.

Sometimes a program will hang up and wont close. You can use task manager to kill the process or you can run a simple command. Learn how to do both of these in this guide.

Use Task Manager to Terminate a Program

To use task manager to terminate a program, do the following:

  1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open the task manager
  2. Find the frozen process and right click the name
  3. Click End Process

    taskkill01 Forcefully Terminate Programs Windows XP/Vista/7 [How To]

  4. Exit the Task Manager

Use the Command Line to Terminate a Program

Sometimes you just want to use the command line; to use the command line to terminate a program, do the following:

  1. Press WINKEY+R to Open the Run dialogue (Start, type run, click run)
  2. Type cmd and hit Enter

    taskkill02 Forcefully Terminate Programs Windows XP/Vista/7 [How To]

  3. Type taskkill /f /im process.exe (process exe is the frozen process’s name)
  4. Wait for confirmation and exit the command line

taskkill03 Forcefully Terminate Programs Windows XP/Vista/7 [How To]

Forcefully Terminate Programs Windows XP/Vista/7 [How To]

About Rich

Rich is the owner and creator of Windows Guides; he spends his time breaking things on his PC so he can write how-to guides to fix the problems he creates.

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Comments

  • D.DuPre’

    thanks, i been using the task manager which eventually miscue afterward
    shortcuts aren’t always the best solution.i’ll use the cmd for now on

  • D.DuPre’

    thanks, i been using the task manager which eventually miscue afterward
    shortcuts aren’t always the best solution.i’ll use the cmd for now on

  • D.DuPre’

    thanks, i been using the task manager which eventually miscue afterward
    shortcuts aren’t always the best solution.i’ll use the cmd for now on

  • rsvr85

    You can also create a shortcut on the desktop with the following into the location bar. Make sure that the name is automatically taskkill. It’ll kill any windows “not responding”

    taskkill.exe /f /fi “status eq not responding”

  • Francisco Wesley

    Very interesting, I was using this command recently for close the internet explore and firefox.

  • http://www.franciscowesley.com Francisco Wesley

    Very interesting, I was using this command recently for close the internet explore and firefox.

  • http://www.franciscowesley.com Francisco Wesley

    Very interesting, I was using this command recently for close the internet explore and firefox.

  • rsvr85

    You can also create a shortcut on the desktop with the following into the location bar. Make sure that the name is automatically taskkill. It’ll kill any windows “not responding”

    taskkill.exe /f /fi “status eq not responding”

  • http://mintywhite.com RSVR85

    You can also create a shortcut on the desktop with the following into the location bar. Make sure that the name is automatically taskkill. It’ll kill any windows “not responding”

    taskkill.exe /f /fi “status eq not responding”

  • MSherwood

    Sometimes, when I REALLY want to kill all instances and processes involved with an application, I’ll choose “End Process Tree” and that does the trick.

  • http://mywindowspc.com/msherwood MSherwood

    Sometimes, when I REALLY want to kill all instances and processes involved with an application, I’ll choose “End Process Tree” and that does the trick.

  • http://mywindowspc.com/msherwood MSherwood

    Sometimes, when I REALLY want to kill all instances and processes involved with an application, I’ll choose “End Process Tree” and that does the trick.

  • Rich

    rsvr and MSherwood — thanks for sharing your tips!

  • http://mintywhite.com/tech/ Rich

    rsvr and MSherwood — thanks for sharing your tips!

  • http://mintywhite.com/tech/ Rich

    rsvr and MSherwood — thanks for sharing your tips!

  • SandeepChouhan

    Hi,

    This is the best way to close the program, but can you put any other way! Because sometimes, a virus is executed and the process cannot be killed through Task Manager or Command Prompt, whats the best way at that time to kill the program and minimize the damange on computer!

    Thanks,
    Sandeep Singh Chouhan

  • SandeepChouhan

    Hi,

    This is the best way to close the program, but can you put any other way! Because sometimes, a virus is executed and the process cannot be killed through Task Manager or Command Prompt, whats the best way at that time to kill the program and minimize the damange on computer!

    Thanks,
    Sandeep Singh Chouhan

  • SandeepChouhan

    Hi,

    This is the best way to close the program, but can you put any other way! Because sometimes, a virus is executed and the process cannot be killed through Task Manager or Command Prompt, whats the best way at that time to kill the program and minimize the damange on computer!

    Thanks,
    Sandeep Singh Chouhan

  • Asif

    its really nice.

  • http://www.rafusoft.com Asif

    its really nice.

  • http://www.rafusoft.com Asif

    its really nice.

  • saleh13

    thank you

  • Joe Russell

    Knowing how to do this from the command line is a nifty trick!

  • http://www.thejoerussell.com Joe Russell

    Knowing how to do this from the command line is a nifty trick!

  • http://www.thejoerussell.com Joe Russell

    Knowing how to do this from the command line is a nifty trick!

  • GarykPatton

    I have been looking looking around for this kind of information. Will you post some more in future? I’ll be grateful if you will.

  • http://www.google.com GarykPatton

    I have been looking looking around for this kind of information. Will you post some more in future? I’ll be grateful if you will.

  • http://www.google.com GarykPatton

    I have been looking looking around for this kind of information. Will you post some more in future? I’ll be grateful if you will.

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