What is the proper way to close unresponsive processes?

I used taskkill so far to kill unresponsive processes:

Code:

taskkill.exe /F /FI "status eq NOT RESPONDING"

However I read this is not a safe way to close process! It could mess up registry, or Windows, or program data!!!

There is also cmdlet: Stop-Process, it works similarly. But I have no idea, if this is any better. Still you need to force process to close, otherwise it won't close! Taskkill might be still better than hard restart tho! Games freeze a lot of times on alt-tab, or bug... This saved me from hardrestart many times!

Problem is you need to force kill it, otherwise it won't close, when it is not responsive. And I heard using taskkill is a bad thing to do from multiple sources...
How to Close Firefox (or any program) at Command Line/Prompt • mozillaZine Forums

A process that is marked "Not Responding" is one that is not waiting for input and had not responded to input for 5 seconds. That is often a temporary situation. The process may be busy and is temporarily unable to respond.

The best way to terminate a process is to send it a close message and it will then close itself. This gives the process an opportunity flush file buffers, update registry entries, or do whatever is needed to clean up before closing. This is what happens when you click the "X" button in an application or use taskkill without the /f option. The problem is that if the process is not responding this will not work. And if it was responding you would have no need to terminate it. Many processes do not have a user interface and this cannot work.

The last resort is to use taskkill or something that accomplishes the same thing. This is a rather brutal way to terminate a process. The OS kills the process which has no opportunity to do anything. This can lead to data loss. It will not corrupt the registry or fill system. Usually this will cause no harm. But "SAFE" is always a relative term.

Using taskkill /f on a system process is generally a bad idea. Depending on the process you may loose system functionality or cause a system reboot. Some processes are so important that the system cannot run without them.

From a system point of view these 2 are really the only generic ways to terminate a process. The other methods mentioned in post #2 are just different ways of accomplished the same thing.

TairikuOkami said:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...mands/taskkill

WTH?

Not what 44k post user says LOOOOOOOL: How to Close Firefox (or any program) at Command Line/Prompt • mozillaZine Forums
I read that from multiple sources...

He says: closing forcibly program using taskkill can corrupt registry, any numbers of programs and files...

LMiller7 said:

From a system point of view these 2 are really the only generic ways to terminate a process. The other methods mentioned in post #2 are just different ways of accomplished the same thing.

What do you mean by these 2? What about PowerShell cmdlet - Stop-Process?

It is weird that there wouldn't be any way to close unresponsive program safely. Hardrestart can do the same, or worse than if you closed forcibly just one unresponsive program!

TairikuOkami said:

Maybe try trustful sources next time. If it was so dangerous, MS would have surely mentioned it. If you press reset on PC, it is pretty much the same, but bad for hardware, so taskkill is obviously a better choice. I use taskkill dozen times a day for years. But thank you for a good laugh.

Why do you think I asked the question you dumb....? Imagine you asking a question and someone said: I had a good laugh... So you never asked any questions in your life I take it? Maybe that's why you are so ignorant...

batch file - Is taskkill safe to close a process? - Stack Overflow

I read from power users on various forums it is not safe to do so...

With this posted batch script you can terminate not responding processes.

Code:

@Echo Off
Cls
Echo ----------------------------------------------- > %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Echo TASKLIST >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt

Echo. >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Tasklist /FI "STATUS eq NOT RESPONDING"  >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Echo --------------------------------------------- >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Echo. >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Echo. >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Echo ----------------------------------------------- >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Echo TASKKILL >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt

Echo. >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Taskkill /FI "STATUS eq NOT RESPONDING" /T /F >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
Echo ----------------------------------------------- >> %userprofile%\Desktop\Report.txt
exit

Add Kill All Not Responding Tasks Context Menu in Windows.

FreeBooter said:

With this posted batch script you can terminate not responding processes. Add Kill All Not Responding Tasks Context Menu in Windows.

This was not what I was asking at all. I know already about taskill, I Am looking for a better method!

What about PS cmdlet - Stop-Process?