Quit an Unresponsive Application

Here is how you can Quit an Unresponsive or Stuck Application on Windows

We have all been there. Stuck with an unresponsive application, waiting for it to start responding again. Even if you have the most powerful PC in the world, you would still experience the occasional hiccups when an app would just refuse to respond and freeze. It could happen if an app faces an error that it is unable to handle or if your PC is slow and failing to handle the load of multiple applications.

If you are lucky, the app might just need a little time and it could start responding again, but in some cases, the only solution is to quit it and restart it. The simple and easy way is to just click the Cross at the top-right to close it, as you would normally do. It should work but if the app is completely failing to respond, you will have to take more drastic measures; killing it from the Task Manager.

The Task Manager, known for being the last resort for an unresponsive app, has the power to kill your application. This could cause some issues like losing unsaved progress inside the app you are trying to close, but it will get the job done.

Quit an App Using Task Manager

  1. Open the Task Manager. You can do it in multiple ways,
    • Press Ctrl + Alt + Del
    • Search for Task Manager from the Start Search menu
  2. Click on the application you want to kill.
  3. Press End task.

You can also click on the More details option to get more details about which application is consuming how much CPU, memory, etc.