Top 4 Ways to Close Frozen Apps in Windows 10

For some PC users, the method used to deal with frozen apps in Windows 10 involves holding down the Power button until the system shuts down. While this method is relatively simple, it can cause lost files and data corruption, among other issues. Therefore, using the Power button to turn off the computer (and frozen applications) is not recommended.

Apart from using the Power button on a Windows 10 PC, there are other safer ways to close frozen apps in Windows 10. Some of these are those:

Close Frozen Apps Using Windows Shortcut

With a simple shortcut, Windows 10 users can close frozen apps. Here’s how it works:

Stage 1: Select the frozen application to make sure your computer will close the application.

Note: If you do not select any application, the computer thinks you want to close it and the Close window opens.

Step 2: Press Alt + F4 keys simultaneously on your keyboard.

Stage 3: Some apps will ask if you want to turn them off in a pop-up message. Click OK to close the application.

Close Frozen Apps Using Windows Task Manager

Windows Task Manager keeps track of applications, programs and processes running on your PC. PC users can identify and close frozen applications using the Task Manager. Here’s how to do this:

Stage 1: Press the CTRL + ALT + DEL keys on your keyboard simultaneously to open the Task Manager.

The Delete and Backspace keys are not the same. If your keyboard doesn’t have a “Delete” key, use the shortcut CTRL + ALT + ESC instead.

Step 2: From the options displayed in the new window, select Task Manager to launch the application window.

Stage 3: Look under the tab labeled Processes for the name of the frozen app.

Step 4: Once you find the application, select it and click End Task.

With this action, the program should close automatically.

Close Frozen Apps Using Command Prompt

Command Prompt is one of the interface programs used to execute actions in Windows 10. Users can close frozen apps using Command Prompt. Here’s how it works:

Stage 1: Press Windows + R on your keyboard to launch the Run dialog.

Step 2: In the empty field next to Open, type cmd and click OK.

Stage 3: When Command Prompt window opens, type task list and select Enter on your keyboard to run the command.

Note: When you type tasklist, it reveals all the programs and tasks currently running on your computer. This list contains the frozen app.

Step 4: Type the following command:

taskkill/im name_of_program.exe

You must use the actual program name with the .EXE extension to run the command.

Step 5: Select Enter on your keyboard to run the command and you should get a message that the operation was successful.

Instead of going through Command Prompt every time, you can also create a shortcut to close frozen apps. Here’s how to do this:

Stage 1: Right-click anywhere on your desktop.

Step 2: Scroll through the list of options and select New, then click Shortcut.

Stage 3: You should get a prompt asking you to provide the location of the shortcut. Type the following command in the box and click Next:

Taskkill /f /fi “status eq not responding”

Step 4: Now it’s time to name your shortcut. You can enter any name you want and then click Finish.

Step 5: The new shortcut should appear on your desktop. With this, when any program freezes, you can close it by double-clicking on this shortcut.

Close Frozen Apps Using Windows PowerShell

PowerShell-like Command Prompt is another command line shell available for task configuration and automation in Windows 10. It can be used to close frozen apps with the following steps:

Stage 1: Type PowerShell in the Windows search bar and select Open.

Step 2: To stop a process by name, enter the following syntax:

Stop Process – Name “Process name”.

Note: Be sure to replace “process name” with the name of the frozen program.

Stage 3: Select Enter to run the command.

Check PC Health Regularly

That’s it for how to close frozen apps in Windows 10. If you use these methods frequently, we recommend that you perform periodic health checks on your computer to determine the root cause.