How to Force Quit Applications in Windows 11

If you’re a Windows user, you’ve probably had to force quit an application at some point. Whether it’s because the application is frozen or unresponsive, force quitting is often the only way to get things back up and running again.

In this article, We’ll show you easy but effective ways to force quit applications ton Windows 11.

Close the Application Using Shortcut (Alt + F4)

The Alt + F4 shortcut is the simplest way to close an application on Windows. This method will close the window you’re currently using. Make sure the window you wish to close is the current active window, so you don’t accidentally force quit another one.

Close the Application Using the Workspace (Windows key + Tab)

Another easy way to close your application is by using workspace.

1. Press the Windows key and the Tab key together
2. A list of applications that are currently running will be opened
3. Just find the application that you want to close and click on X to close it.

   

Close the Application Using Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)

If you can’t close the application using the shortcut or the workspace, you can close it using Task Manager.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc
2. Click on More details

   

3. Select the application you want to close

   

4. Click on End task

   

Close the Application Using the Command Prompt (Cmd)

If you still can’t close the application you can use the command prompt.

1. Go to the search bar and type command prompt or cmd.You can also use the Windows Key + X keyboard shortcut.
   

   

2. Right-click on Command Prompt and select Run as administrator

   

3. In the command prompt, type taskkill /im program-name.exe /t /f
   For example: taskkill /im Spotify.exe /t /f

   

4. When you press Enter, the application will close.

   

   In this command line, the /t and /f represent the “thorough” and “force” parameters.

   The /t parameter tells Task Manager to terminate the process immediately, while the /f parameter tells Task Manager to forcefully terminate the process.
   

If you don’t know the name of the application you want to close, you can use the PID (Process ID) to kill it.

1. Open the Task Manager using the Ctrl + Shift + Esc shortcut
2. Click on the Details option

   

3. Here, you can see a list of all the processes that are currently running

   

4. Look for the process you want to terminate and note the PID number of the application you want to close.
5. After you’ve noted down the application’s PID, open the Command Prompt and enter the following: taskkill /PID ‘process id’ /t /f

   

6. After pressing Enter, the application will close automatically.

Give Your Application Too Many Inputs until It Freezes

Although this method might not be elegant and sometimes doesn’t work, it can still be useful.

For this method, provide the software/window you have open with an excessive number of inputs at the same time. For example, you could try opening many tabs on your browser or spam your keyboard with keys. The application will freeze after a few seconds, giving you the option to close it or wait.

Select Close the program and the application will close immediately.

Use Third-Party Applications to Force Quit Applications

If previous methods didn’t work, you can also try to use third-party applications to force quit the application.

There are many different applications available on the internet, but we recommend Process Explorer.

1. First, you download the app.
2. When you open the app, you will find a list of processes running on your computer

   

3. To make the searching process easier, press the Find Window’s Process button, then drag and drop it over the application you want to close

   

4. The app will be automatically selected; all you have to do is to right-click on it and select Kill Process Tree

   

5. You will receive a confirmation message, then the app will close.