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HOME » SOFTWARE » WINDOWS XP

HOW TO USE WINDOWS XP: CLOSING A "FROZEN" PROGRAM

Closing a frozen program is easier in Windows XP than it was in older versions of Windows. The other good news is that Windows XP is more stable than its predecessors; your programs will freeze less often than they did in older Windows versions.

If you close a frozen program, you will lose any unsaved work you had open in that program. Sometimes, especially if you're running many programs at once or working with large documents, a program may run so slowly that it seems to be frozen. If you have unsaved work open in a frozen program, try closing any other programs you have running (besides the frozen one), stop working, and wait a little while—often, the program will respond on its own, and you can avoid losing your work.

  1. Press the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys on your keyboard all at the same time.  The Novell NetWare Security window will appear.


  2. Click on the Task List button. The Windows Task Manager will appear.


  3. Click on the Applications tab to see a list of all open applications.


  4. Click on the program (or process) that's giving you trouble. This will highlight the name of the program. If you don't see the frozen program listed, skip to the next section.


  5. Click on the End Task button.


Click the frozen process then End Task.

  1. At this point either the program will be closed, or a window will appear asking you to confirm that you want to shut down the program or process. If you see this window, Click on the End Task button (if you don't see the window, you don't have to do anything).


  2. If the Applications tab doesn't show the program that's giving you trouble:

    1. Click on the Processes tab.


    2. Click the name of the program or process that's giving you trouble (for example, CT32.exe=CorporateTime for GUCalendar, and WINWORD.EXE=Microsoft Word).


    3. Click on the End Process button.


    Click the frozen process then End Task.

    1. At this point either the program will be closed, or a window will appear asking you if you want to terminate the process. If you see this window, click on the Yes button (if you don't see the window, you don't have to do anything).

    Click Yes.

    1. Click File then click Exit Task Manager.

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