How to force quit an app in Windows
by Monica Chin from The Verge - All Posts on (#64QYD)
Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge We all want everything to work just fine all the time. But sometimes they just don't. Your Windows app slows down. You get the dreaded this program is not responding" pop-up. Your whole computer freezes.
In cases like this, the best option is often to force quit the unresponsive app. This means your computer will force the program to close, regardless of what it's in the middle of doing or trying to do. There are several ways you can do this on a Windows PC. Here they are.
- Press Alt + F4 (and maybe also Fn, depending on how your Function row is programmed). This will close whatever application you currently have selected.
- Press Ctrl + Alt + Delete and select Task Manager or Ctrl + Shift + Esc to...