What is the proper way to close unresponsive processes?

empleat said:

I don't trust programs from sites like this. It has been known for pup, or possibly adware. What method it uses BTW? Why couldn't I run this from PS etc.
Otherwise it is strange, there would be no safe way to kill processes on Windows 10. This crap happens all the time, if you alt tab from a game, or games freeze by themselves relatively a lot!

Ultimate Windows Tweaker tweaks the registry and system files so it is only normal the fact it has been known for PUP, or possibly adware. That is, known for it by the makers of exceptionally trustworthy antivirus software who get paid by their customers for their not being able to tell the difference between a real virus and a false positive.

VirusTotal

Ultimate Windows Tweaker Safe - Virus and Malware Tests

Of course this software has the disclaimer of "use at your own risk". But then, Windows 10 also boils down to this same type of "we offer you no guarantees" and "backup your personal data before it will cause your computer to spontaneously explode... AGAIN!".

I have been using computers since age 11 and started to learn computer programming at this same age during the 1980s, on an MSX computer─"MSX" stands for "Microsoft eXtended". By the time I got to age 14, I had learned pretty much everything there was to learn about programming in assembly language on this whole platform that also included the video chip by Texas Instruments and all the various other peripheral I/O type stuff it had in store. I have a formal degree in IT and became a J2EE software dev (aka an ominous "consultant") after having worked for a large insurance company in the Brussels area as a systems engineer. Personally, I, haven't experienced any serious problems with Anand Khanse's little free tool─and actually even use it in concert with Winaero Tweaker just because I can. But hey, that's only me!

empleat said:

When it is not responding I can't write, or do anything...

When it is not responding, can you open Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell?

hdmi said:

Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Point is: what method it uses to auto-end unresponsive tasks? As if even Windows seems to not have anything better than taskkill.

Matthew Wai said:

When it is not responding, can you open Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell?

No! That's what I was trying to say. I can't do anything, not even ctrl+shift+del. Taskkill on keypress was the only solution, which worked, but it is not good to use either. So I Am still looking for a better option!

empleat said:

Point is: what method it uses to auto-end unresponsive tasks?

It uses the proper method.

empleat said:

I can't do anything, not even ctrl+shift+del.

Try pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc

or

Try running the following script:

👉 Tuneup_plus_log.bat ✔️

Source: Batch files for use in BSOD debugging

The Windows function used to terminate a process is "TerminateProcess" which ultimately calls the native function "NtTerminateProcess". This is an unconditional termination and the process has no opportunity to stop or intervene in the process. Windows does what it can to make the function as safe as possible in that it frees all memory the process has allocated, closes handles, etc. There will be no corruption of memory, the file system, or the registry. This is as safe a process termination as is possible.

But the function cannot know what the process would normally do if allowed to close normally. Things such as updating files, registry entries, or deleting temporary files. There can also be issues when the process is interacting with other processes. The user normally has no way of knowing about these things and in some cases the application developer can't know. The only way to avoid these issues is to ask the process to close itself. This would happen when you click the close button in the application window or use taskkill without the /f option.

Windows provides many way to access the TerminateProcess function and third party software adds more. But they all end up the same way. Taskkill with the /f option calls TerminateProcess. The "Auto-End Non Responsive Programs" option mentioned in post #16 calls this exact same function. If the option isn't checked Windows would advise the program the system is about to shut down and should close itself, with all that would involve. This can take time. People who are not willing to wait check the box and then Windows will simply call TerminateProcess.

In Windows terminating a process does not normally terminate any child processes. If the processes are part of the same application child processes may close themselves if the parent process ends for any reason. But this has to be designed into the process and is not normal operation.

There is nothing special about the "Kill process tree" function in Process explorer. It simply recursively goes through all of a processes child processes and kills them individually with TerminateProcess.

Bottom line is either close an application through the normal method or kill it with Taskkill /f or something else that accomplishes the same thing. There is no other "proper" way to terminate a process.

hdmi said:

It uses the proper method.

Proper method? Damn could you be more vague? Taskkill can kill gracefully e.g. but it doesn't work for unresponsive processes! I checked the site and it is not explained there how it works...

Matthew Wai said:

Try pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc

or

Try running the following script:

 Tuneup_plus_log.bat ✔️

Source: Batch files for use in BSOD debugging

OMG please! I already tried that. Why can't you take my word for it. Nothing works, I can't kill that any way. If everything is frozen! I already said that I can't do anything, when everything is frozen, so I don't understand why you are asking me this!

Even sfc/dism won't repair everything. So I need to prevent freezes in the first place!

BTW aside: if you kill a process using the task manager, it will kill that process forcefully right?

Yes, forcefully.

empleat said:

I don't understand why you are asking me this!

Because I suspect something is wrong with your Windows. Something causes the freezing.

Erm, what happened to using, Ctrl+Alt+Delete to shut a process?