6.3. When Programs Die: The Task Manager: All VersionsWindows may be a revolution in stability (at least if you're used to, say, Windows Me), but that doesn't mean that programs never crash or freeze. They crash, all rightit's just that you rarely have to restart the computer as a result. When something goes horribly wrong with a program, your primary interest is usually exiting it. But when a program locks up (the cursor moves, but menus and tool palettes don't respond) or when a dialog box tells you that a program has "failed to respond," exiting may not be so easy. After all, how do you choose File Exit if the File menu itself doesnt open ? As in past versions of Windows, the solution is to invoke the "three-fingered salute": Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Tip: Actually, there may be a quicker solution. Try right-clicking the frozen program's taskbar button; from the shortcut menu, choose Close. This trick doesn't always workbut when it does, it's much faster than using the Task Manager. In Vista, however, Ctrl+Alt+Delete no longer opens the fabled Task Manager. Instead, it opens the new Windows Security screen (Figure 6-1).
From here you can get to the Task Managerby clicking Start Task Manager (Figure 6-1, top). Now you see a list of every open program. The Status column should make clear what you already know: that one of your programs is ignoring you. Tip: You can also run Task Manager by right-clicking the taskbar and, from the shortcut menu, choosing Task Manager from the shortcut menu. Doing this bypasses the Windows Security dialog box and brings you directly to Windows Task Manager, with the Applications tab selected. As shown in Figure 6-1, shutting down the troublesome program is fairly easy; just click its name and then click the End Task button. (If yet another dialog box appears, telling you that "This program is not responding," click the End Now button.)
When you jettison a recalcitrant program this way, Windows generally shuts down the troublemaker gracefully, even offering you the chance to save unsaved changes to your documents. If even this treatment fails to close the program, you might have to slam the door the hard way. Click the Processes tab, click the name of the program that's giving you grief , and then click the End Process button. (The Processes list includes dozens of programs, including many that Windows runs behind the scenes. Finding the abbreviated name of the program may be the hardest part of this process.) Using this method, you'll lose any unsaved changes to your documentsbut at least the frozen program is finally closed. Tip: If you click a program's taskbar button but its window doesn't appear, the program may be frozen. In that case, try right-clicking the taskbar button; from the shortcut menu, choose Restore. |