PCBugSquad

There will come a time in every computer users lifetime that they will need to stop a program from running in Windows.  For the most part, you can simply exit the program like you normally would by either clicking on the X in the upper right hand corner of the window or by clicking on the File –> Exit menu option. Unfortunately, though, it is common for a process to not exit like it should.  This could be because it is no longer responding, or frozen, or because it is malware and not allowing itself to be killed.

This tutorial will walk you through ending a process, or program, that cannot be closed by normal methods.  The first step is to open the Windows Task Manager.  To do this simply follow these steps:

1. On your keyboard, press the Ctrl+Alt+Delete buttons at the same time and then click on the Task Manager button if a menu appears.  Otherwise, Task Manager will automatically appear.  You can also press the Ctrl+Shift+ESC keys buttons on your keyboard at the same time to launch the Windows Task Manager. Managing these multi-button combinations can be tricky, so do not be concerned if it takes a few tries.
2. When the Task Manager opens you will see a screen similar to the one below.

   
   

   You should now select the program you would like to end by left-clicking on the name with your mouse.  The process you would like to stop should now be highlighted as shown in the image above where pgs.exe is highlighted.

3. Now click on the End Process button to end the program.  If a Window opens displaying a warning, you should click on the Yes button to end the program.

   
   

The program you wanted to close, should no longer be running and you can now close the Task Manager.  When ending programs, we suggest that you do not end any programs that are running under the User Name Local Service, Network Service, or System as it may cause instability on your computer.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Tutorial. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.