Applications hanging or not responding can be an annoying problem on a computer, and sometimes it happens very often on Windows 10 PC. As said, there are multiple causes for apps’ unresponsiveness. But you can fix it by force closing the problematic app.
Methods to Force Close Apps on Windows 10 PC
Method 1: Using Alt + F4 Keyboard Shortcut You can quickly close an app on Windows 10 PC with the Alt + F4 keyboard shortcut. If you can select the problematic app, use this shortcut to force close it. Alt + F4 is a Windows and apps shut down shortcut. If you do not select an app, the Shutdown window will appear when you press the shortcut. Method 2: With Windows Task Manager Task Manager lets you kill apps on Windows. If the Alt + F4 keyboard shortcut does not help close the app, you can use the Task Manager to force quit an app in Windows 10.
Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc or Ctrl + Alt + Delete keys on the keyboard, which will open the Task Manager.In Task Manager, click on the Options tab, and enable the Always on top option.Next, under the Processes tab, right-click on the running process of the not responding app, select End task from the context menu. It will force close the app.
Method 3: Via Command Prompt
You can use the command prompt to close an unresponsive app. Here is how it is.Open the Command Prompt as administrator on your Windows 10 PC, type tasklist, and press the Enter key.It will list all the running processes and tasks on your computer. Now, type taskkill/im taskname.exe and press the Enter key (Replace taskname.exe with the original process name, which you can find under the Image Name).The last command will close the non-responding app.
Method 4: Via Task kill Shortcut You can also kill/stop non-responsive apps by creating a task kill shortcut. Follow the steps below to make the task kill shortcut on Windows 10 PC.
Right-click on the desktop, go to New, and click on the Shortcut option.In ‘Type the location of the item’ box, enter taskkill.exe /f /fi “status eq not responding" command. Then, click Next, name the shortcut, and click on Finish.
If an app stops responding, run this shortcut to force quit the app. You can also assign a hotkey for your shortcut so that you can press the hotkey to close the app. To assign a hotkey, right-click on the task kill shortcut you created and select properties.Under the Shortcut tab, enter your hotkey in the textbox next to the Shortcut key. Click on Apply and OK. When an app hangs or stops responding, you can use any of the above methods to force close it. More Resources:
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