12 replies to this topic

[Kivitoe]

We all get program that crashes while in full screen mode, and using the computer's power button/switch is risky. I will show you how to (safely) exit a full screen program in Windows.

 

1. Press the "Windows" key.
2. Right-click the taskbar. (It should come up with the start menu).
3. Choose "Task Manager".
4. Use the taskbar again to show the task manager window if needed.
5. Choose the program from the list of open ones and click the "End Task" button.

Hope this helped!

[Timelord]

Usually, in a situation where something locks up in fullscreen mode (or in general), you can;t click the taskbar; so alternatively, press: Control + Alt + Delete

This has been the default way to bring up taskman.exe since Windows 3.0, possibly 2.1; but IDR.

We tend to call it the 'three-finger salute', and many a joke has been made over the years on this.

 

 

Because: Microsoft.

Edited by ZoriaRPG, 12 January 2016 - 10:10 PM.

[Deedee]

Alternatively, press: Control + Alt + Delete

This has been the default way to bring up taskman.exe since Windows 3.0, possibly 2.1; but IDR.

We tend to call it the 'three-finger solute', and many a joke has been made over the years on this.

 

 

Because: Microsoft.

 

Actually, on windows 7+, that opens up an options menu, one of which is the task menu. For those looking for a more straightforward solution:

Ctrl+Shift+Escape

[Nicholas Steel]

Crashed Fullscreen programs typically appear as an Always On Top blank thing covering most or all of the desktop, so the Start Menu it self and the Task Bar context menus will be rendered behind the blank image of the crashed program, rendering you unable to access the Task Manager option that way. That is why the Ctrl-Alt-Delete method is recommended though even then you should have Task Manager configured to be Always On Top before hand  otherwise it too will be rendered behind the crashed program and inaccessible (Well, you could navigate it blind I guess, good luck accomplishing what you want though)

Edited by Nicholas Steel, 13 January 2016 - 02:18 AM.

[MaeioParty]

Just use ALT-F4

[Magi_Hero]

Just use ALT-F4

This doesn't work for non-responding programs. This only calls for the software to close itself, which will not work if it is not responding. Closing it from the task manager kills the program service from the OS side.

[ShadowTiger]

Oddly, I've seen a few instances of some programs where nothing can get rid of a process. Not a program, but a windows process.

A friend of mine made a special build of the GZDoom source port for Doom, and when it's opened, it pretty much freezes just that particular window of WinExplorer. If you open up Task Manager, the process (again, not the program) remains in there no matter what you do, even if you kill the process tree. It's amazing. There are even some commands that can hunt down a PID (Process ID, I believe) and terminate it manually, but even those don't work against them. Probably in use by other things.

My point is that Windows is weird, and many things happen behind the scenes that you don't know about, and won't really have a lot of opportunity to look into short of technomancy.

[Nicholas Steel]

Oddly, I've seen a few instances of some programs where nothing can get rid of a process. Not a program, but a windows process.

A friend of mine made a special build of the GZDoom source port for Doom, and when it's opened, it pretty much freezes just that particular window of WinExplorer. If you open up Task Manager, the process (again, not the program) remains in there no matter what you do, even if you kill the process tree. It's amazing. There are even some commands that can hunt down a PID (Process ID, I believe) and terminate it manually, but even those don't work against them. Probably in use by other things.

My point is that Windows is weird, and many things happen behind the scenes that you don't know about, and won't really have a lot of opportunity to look into short of technomancy.

I've had that happen several times in the past.

[Magi_Hero]

Same here. Moving forward from some of those 'ghost' processes would require a reboot sometimes. This used to happen on 95/98/XP for, not so much 7 ever. Never happened in 10 yet.

[MaeioParty]

This doesn't work for non-responding programs. This only calls for the software to close itself, which will not work if it is not responding. Closing it from the task manager kills the program service from the OS side.

Really?

I was playing around with some of the game files in Empire at War which eventually caused it to crash. Task manager refused to do anything, even close the process (if it showed up at all, The crash would usually lock me to the game window). Only thing that solved it was an Alt F4.

Maybe I'm wrong though.

Edited by CasualTR, 25 February 2016 - 04:33 PM.

[Nicholas Steel]

Really?

I was playing around with some of the game files in Empire at War which eventually caused it to crash. Task manager refused to do anything, even close the process (if it showed up at all, The crash would usually lock me to the game window). Only thing that solved it was an Alt F4.

Maybe I'm wrong though.

Not responding, isn't the same as a responding program that is showing a blank image because of corrupt data.

[DCEnygma]

Oddly, I've seen a few instances of some programs where nothing can get rid of a process. Not a program, but a windows process.

A friend of mine made a special build of the GZDoom source port for Doom, and when it's opened, it pretty much freezes just that particular window of WinExplorer. If you open up Task Manager, the process (again, not the program) remains in there no matter what you do, even if you kill the process tree. It's amazing. There are even some commands that can hunt down a PID (Process ID, I believe) and terminate it manually, but even those don't work against them. Probably in use by other things.

My point is that Windows is weird, and many things happen behind the scenes that you don't know about, and won't really have a lot of opportunity to look into short of technomancy.

 

This happens most often when there is an active service that is keeping the process alive. Windows does a lot of things with it's services and several poorly constructed programs either introduce new services they utilize to run or hook themselves directly to important services. In the case of the latter, this often leads to when you forcibly terminate a program, it kills a service that may be utilized elsewhere. I've had that happen before where I wasn't able to get any USB ports to recognize devices plugged into them. I fixed it once through a restart, but the second time it happened I was able to just restart "services.exe" which then kickstarted the process that failed. That was a while ago so I couldn't even tell you what killed it in the first place, but the reasons for these things happening are often a mix of poor process design and also, as ShadowTiger said, Windows just being a bit weird.

[Anthus]

If a full screen program locks up, I try to Alt+tab out of it, and if that won't work I'll pull up the lock screen with crtl+alt+delete.

Edit: I wouldn't recommend this, but there's been a few instances where things have crashed in full screen, and I've gotten out of it (if it's a crashed window showing a black box over everything) by unplugging the HDMI from my monitor to my video card. It seems that when you plug it back in, Windows gets rid of that program. This doesn't close it though, this just freed up the display.