Get Rid of a Window That Won't Close in Windows XP
Close a windowed application in Windows XP that appears to have stopped responding.
Contents
Steps
- Identify the program that has opened the window. This information is located in the title bar, directly above "File Edit View .." It is generally found in the "Name - Application" format. The example here shows "Minesweeper" The part after the hyphen (Wordpad) is the application.
- Click on "File" or "Game". Then, click "Exit" in the drop down box. Depending on the type window and if changes have been made, you may: 1) be prompted to save the file, 2) it will close, or 3) it will remain open. If it remained open, continue to the next step. The next steps may not offer options to save the file before it unceremoniously closes.
- Click on the "X" box at the far right inside the title bar. If the window did not close, continue to the next step.
- Press and hold the "Ctrl" "Alt" and the "Delete" keys all at the same time for about 1 second. A new box called "Task Manager" will open.
- Click the Application tab to reveal the contents (if not already displayed). Find the matching entry of the window that will not close. The example is Minesweeper. Look at the status for the entry. The example shows "Running". The other possibility is "Not Responding". If the status is Not Responding, click the "End task" button in the lower right of the display. If the status is "Running" it may need additional time to complete before the window will close. You may either wait longer, or press the End Task button. If the window still refuses to close proceed to the next step.
- Click the "Processes" tab.
- Click on "Image Name" to sort the list alphabetically if desired.
- Scroll down the list until the name of the file that is used to start the program is located. If the file name (or image name) is not listed, check the "Tips" section below for help with identifying application file name (or image name).
- Click on the file name "winmine.exe" once to highlight it.
- Click on the "End Process" button.
- A window "Task Manager Warning" will appear. You must decide to either proceed (select "Yes") or cancel (select "No") killing the process before being allowed to continue.
- Check the "Tips" section for help with any resulting Error Windows when attempting to end a task or application.
- If the window still remained open, it might be best to simply reboot.
Tips
- Sometimes a window that won't close might just be loading. If you would like, give it some time.
- Not every application uses a file name (or image name) that is the same as the application name to start. An example is "Mozilla Firefox". The file name that starts this application is actually "firefox.exe" While not a "stretch" for the name, if you were looking in the processes tab for file names that begin with "m" you might not find it. Find the file names that start applications by looking in "Programs" listing when the Windows "Start" button is pressed. Find the application name, and right click it and click on "properties" to find the location and file name that starts the application.
- Sometimes, when attempting to stop an application or image name, a warning box stating one of the following messages: "Cannot delete file: Access is denied." "There has been a sharing violation." "The source or destination file may be in use." "The file is in use by another program or user." "Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use." Get around these problems by running a free program called File Unlocker first.
- If unsure or wish not to attempt stopping any process or application, press the "Esc" key to close the Task Manager and return to the previous screen.
Warnings
- Stopping applications or files in this manner can further increase the instability of the Operating System. Ending any critical process will have undesirable results. Reboot the computer when possible to stabilize the system.
- Save any work and open programs before trying to close windows that appear to no longer be responding with the steps above. If applications and windows fail to close as expected, the Operating System has already become unstable, and may crash without warning.
