Windows Task Manager – How to Terminate a Program That Has Taken Over the Screen

killtask-managerwindowswindows 7windows 8

I've been using Windows forever, but one thing that has annoyed me is how hard it is to terminate misbehaving full-screen applications. In Linux, I can just switch over to terminal (Ctrl+Alt+F1) and use the terminal to forcefully close a misbehaving program. In Windows, this seems to be only possible using task manager. If a frozen window is set to stay-on-top and full-screen mode, Alt+Tab and Alt+F4 don't work and I can't even use the Task Manager. If I had important work in the background, say, and I'd forgotten to save it, I can't just restart the computer!

What do you do in this circumstance?

Best Answer

Use AutoHotKey and bind a shortcut to WinKill, A

This command first makes a brief attempt to close the window normally. If that fails, it will attempt to force the window closed by terminating its process.

WinTitle: If this is the letter A and the other 3 window parameters are blank or omitted, the active window will be used.

I compiled this one-liner to an .EXE which you can download here.

#!Q::WinKill,A
  • Move KillActiveWindow.exe to your autostart folder. It will reside in your Windows tray.
  • Close active windows/full-screen applications with Win+Alt+Q.

enter image description here

Related Question