Program to End Process on Windows 11

tekkaman

tekkaman

Hello everyone,

I'm reaching out to computer veterans here. I own a Windows 11 laptop. There are many reasons to hate Windows 11 but I can't use a lower Windows version on it. There is one thing that really hate about Windows 11 and it's the inability to close non responding applications. For example Firefox crashes sometimes and the task manager isn't able to close any non responsive process like old Windows versions could. You click End Process and it does NOTHING! I have to restart the whole computer just to be able to open Firefox again. This didn't happen in older Windows versions. So is there a third party app that is able to really kill an unresponsive process on Windows 11?
 
You can replace the Task Manager in Windows 11 with an alternative like Process Explorer, but you may need to create a registry entry to do so. Alternatively, you can download a classic version of Task Manager that resembles the Windows 10 design.

Replacing Task Manager in Windows 11​

Using Process Explorer​

Process Explorer is a powerful alternative to the default Task Manager. To set it as your default Task Manager:
  1. Download Process Explorer from the official Microsoft website.
  2. Open Process Explorer.
  3. Go to Options in the menu.
  4. Select Replace Task Manager.
If this option does not work, you may need to create a registry entry manually.

Manual Registry Method​

To replace Task Manager with Process Explorer using the registry:
  1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
  2. Type regedit and press Enter to open the Registry Editor.
  3. Navigate to:
Code


  1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\taskmgr.exe
  2. In the right pane, create a new REG_SZ value named Debugger.
  3. Set its value to the path of Process Explorer (e.g., C:\Path\To\procexp.exe).

Restoring Classic Task Manager​


If you prefer the classic Task Manager interface from Windows 10:


  1. Download the Classic Task Manager package designed for Windows 11.
  2. Run the installer and follow the prompts.
  3. You can launch it using Ctrl + Shift + Esc or from the taskbar.

This method allows you to keep both versions of Task Manager, switching between them as needed.
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5 alternatives to the Windows Task Manager that you should be using

Many Task Manager alternatives provide detailed system monitoring, advanced troubleshooting features, and deeper insights into running processes
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process explorer has always been a good alternative. :)
 
tekkaman said:
Hello everyone,

I'm reaching out to computer veterans here. I own a Windows 11 laptop. There are many reasons to hate Windows 11 but I can't use a lower Windows version on it. There is one thing that really hate about Windows 11 and it's the inability to close non responding applications. For example Firefox crashes sometimes and the task manager isn't able to close any non responsive process like old Windows versions could. You click End Process and it does NOTHING! I have to restart the whole computer just to be able to open Firefox again. This didn't happen in older Windows versions. So is there a third party app that is able to really kill an unresponsive process on Windows 11?
Click to expand...
Like Elizabeth says, I can recommend Process Explorer.

A little sidenote - have you updated to the latest version of Windows 11? This bug originally surfaced around 1-2 months ago, could be useful to check just in case.
 
I tried Process Explorer before. But it couldn't kill the process. I'm still going to check Super F4 and I'll check Process Explorer again.
 
tekkaman said:
I tried Process Explorer before. But it couldn't kill the process. I'm still going to check Super F4 and I'll check Process Explorer again.
Click to expand...
Did you check if you have one of the latter updates? I know one update in August-September broke Task Manager or maybe another one came out and broke it again
 
Ok I wanted to report that I tried Super F4 the last time FireFox crashed. It almost seemed like it would work. But the Firefox window just turned white. It couldn't terminate the process. I'm at a loss. I don't know why Windows 11 broke the task manager so badly that it can't close programs that crashed.
 
tekkaman said:
Ok I wanted to report that I tried Super F4 the last time FireFox crashed. It almost seemed like it would work. But the Firefox window just turned white. It couldn't terminate the process. I'm at a loss. I don't know why Windows 11 broke the task manager so badly that it can't close programs that crashed.
Click to expand...
They started introducing a lot of AI-gen code, so that might be the problem. Do other apps have such problems or is it just Firefox?
 
tekkaman said:
Any program that crashes, the Task Manager can't close it as it's supposed to.
Click to expand...
Just used a 2015 laptop running Windows 10 at my local library. The browser on there is Edge. I downloaded a stock image, which somehow downloaded a folder with the corrupted image parts. Then Edge started being non-responsive, as was Windows 10. I opened Task Manager and it froze immediately. After a few minutes I was able to close Edge. Task Manager was responsive... and it turned out that 99% of memory and 100% of CPU was used, before it died down to 8%. The laptop has 8GB of memory, so it is usually pretty smooth.

I have two theories - a memory leak and cryptojacker. A memory leak would require a patch and is Microsoft's fault.

As for the cryptojacker, it would be extremely easy to put a loop in the miner's code that constantly checks for Task Manager being open using even Win32 API. A pseudocode example:

Loop:
Run check_all_processes_for_task_manager() -> returns Task Manager running as Boolean (true/false)
If bool task_manager_running = True Then
mining_resource_use_cap = (MAX_RAM / 100) * 8 -> makes the resource cap lower so that user does not notice anything

The loop is probably pretty slow with checking the processes, meaning you can notice while the mining is still going on. Malware is known to start malicious behavior if it detects you being away from your PC, like in this video by SomeOrdinaryGamers. This helps it conceal any suspicious resource use or anything else that would alarm the user.

HOWEVER - I do not think any of these is a cause on your system. Just wanted to share this if anyone's Task Manager dies with the unresponsive process it is trying to kill.
 
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