If you're a
Windows user, it pretty much goes without saying that you've encountered a frozen program before. Often these jammed apps get labeled with the dreaded "Not Responding" message and simply refuse to do anything, even close. Usually, the only solution is to open the task manager, find the appropriate process, and choose to close it. Fortunately, a quicker and easier way exists.
As the good people at
Lifehacker have pointed out (with the aid of
HaxAttack), you can create a desktop shortcut that will automatically close any "Not Responding" applications whenever you double-click the shortcut. Here's how to set it up -- it's really easy:
- Right click while on your desktop and select "create a new shortcut."
- Quotes included, enter the following as the location: taskkill.exe /f /fi "status eq not responding"
That's it. From here, you can change the icon to make it prettier, or even set a shortcut key if double-clicking is too much work for you. When you launch the shortcut, your computer will automatically identify and terminate any programs that the computer deems "Not Responding." This useful little trick works on Windows
XP Pro (but not XP Home), all versions of
Vista, and
Windows 7, so give it a try and see if it doesn't make you feel like a hacker. [From:
HaxAttack, Via:
Lifehacker]
Tags: frozen, not responding, NotResponding, top, vista, windows, windows 7, windows vista, windows xp, Windows7, WindowsVista, WindowsXp, xp
Comments
22
Subscribe to commentspastordlMay 4th 2009 9:33AM
Thanks a quick way to take care of an all to frequent problem. Why is that microsoft made the program but doesn't have it available on the desktop. Or better yet fix the problem.
Mark OchoaMay 5th 2009 5:31PM
Thanxs 4 dat> now i knw uat 2 do
qball49May 4th 2009 4:40PM
ah one more time how do you choose a new icon ?
Mick RogersMay 9th 2009 5:36PM
Right click on it and click on customise...it is easy
JoeyMay 4th 2009 7:07PM
Oh how I love my PC freezes....every 30 seconds!! Monster tip!
J.D.May 5th 2009 11:00PM
after you have created the shortcut, right-click it and select properties. on the top of the properties dialog, make sure you are in the "shortcut" tab. about two-thirds of the way down in the dialog box there is a button for change icon.
YaroMay 6th 2009 1:54PM
So much easier in Linux. It's called xkill. You run that and click the window, the whole thing goes byebye. Once again Windows does everything ass backwards. Of course there is a CLI method in Linux (Several, in fact.), but for GUI apps its just so simple to do it that way.
Yeah, if you want to impress actual power users, you'd stop playing with toys like Windows and install a *nix.
JaneJun 13th 2009 11:04AM
Yeah, but if everyone switched to Linux, what would you have to feel smug about anymore?
markMar 29th 2010 10:42AM
Yeah... but when I upgrade Windows, the new version loads up with all my old progs and settings - I've yet to find a Linux distro that upgrades as nicely, or provides an easily accessible repair tool such as the one on the XP CD.
On several different PCs over the years, I've tried various Ubuntu and Fedora versions. All of them became unbootable after a major update. Only one supported any of my wireless cards. The video driver support was flakey. And finally, when I wanted to do anything efficiently and quickly (from developing software and testing it to simply updating my MTP compatible mp3 player), I had to boot back into Windows, or spend ages googling terminal commands for what should be everyday GUI tasks.
Windows breaks more often than Linux or Mac, but unlike them, it is usually quick and easy to fix...
Yaro KasearMar 29th 2010 2:14PM
@mark - You are very clearly doing it wrong.
Linux does that too. It can even do that without actually DOING anything. It's called a separate /home partition. Another feature Windows never dreams of doing because it doesn't even have a unified file system that allows you to treat separate file systems as part of the whole. Only Windows forces you to back up your files/run a program to pull over old configuration or documents. Linux just remounts your /home partition and carries on. Tools like the migration tool Windows has are a symptom of an inflexible file system structure.
Also, it's quite easy to repair Linux compared to Windows because Linux provides you with more than a crippled DOS session for a recovery console like Windows does. Instead of offering you only 50 commands that are a major toss up over whether they'll fix your problem, Linux provides you with a single mode that won't activate network or daemons, and any LiveCD can do a lot more for even Windows on the same system than the Recovery Console Windows makes you put up with. Windows has you either try to find a magic combination with its severely crippled recovery tools to fix the problem, or its only guaranteed fix by way of reinstalling Windows a lot. Linux allows you to just fix the problem. And it's not that hard. At worst you Google it, which will be possible from most any LiveCD since it doesn't just install Linux like any Windows media does.
Your mistake was also using two of the WORST Linux distributions out there for stability or reliability: Ubuntu and Fedora. Ubuntu's built right off of Debian Unstable and has some of the least competent Linux devs working it. And Fedora is actually Red Hat's experimental branch.
Video driver support is only flakey if you're a sucker with an ATI card, and that's ATI/AMD's fault, not Linux's. All the others just plain work. nVidia cards require installation of a proprietary driver, but that takes five minutes tops and only an idiot would have any trouble with it. Actually, hardware support for Linux is loads better than Windows because it actually supports waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more hardware out of the box, and has the more extensive driver base as well as what platforms it can run on. Try installing Ubuntu and XP on that same machine and see what works out of the box on your system compared to the two. You'll find that XP will have NOTHING working, where Ubuntu will have most, if not all, your hardware working without you having to set anything up. This is because most drivers you'll ever needa re installed as a part of the kernel package and udev modprobes them at boot. Your network problem would be easily solved had you actually rubbed two brain cells together and realized there was ndiswrapper that allows you to use drivers not explicitly written for Linux. You would have discovered that and easily fixed your wireless problem had you actually done some research. And unless you're using a laptop, wireless isn't really worth the slowness, insecurity, OR unreliability. Wireless just can't compare to a good ethernet connection. Speaking of networks, did you know Windows has a deliberately crippled IP stack that makes it operate on the network much slower than any other operating syetm you could use?
The only reason you had to boot into Windows was because you couldn't figure out how to set up your wireless card. That's your fault, not Linux's. And GUI tools? Yeah, you're not a competent software developer if you can only use GUI tools. Linux is *the* platform for software development. It offers, FOR FREE, and with a greater degree of reliability and flexibility way more compilers and development tools than you will EVER see Microsoft cough up for Visual Studio. In fact, Microsoft has DUMBED DOWN development with the advent of C# and .NET.
A CLI is always going to be faster, more powerful, and more efficient than a GUI. Windows and Microsoft have trained idiots like you into thinking that they're obsolete and useless. But GUIs are severely limited and slow at what they do, and are extremely generic procedures and can't be relied on for something mission critical.
There's also several damn good reasons why Linux is the better choice for a server There's a damn good reason why over 60% of the Internet, including this very web site, are run on Linux. There are several damn good reasons why Linux is most commonly chosen for embedded use. There is many damn good reasons why Android is beginning to overtake Windows Mobile AND OS X in the mobile market.
And the only reason Windows is used is because Microsoft forced it into a monopoly. Illegally. At least TWICE they were convicted of anti-competitive monopoly behavior. They can't even consider acquisition or expansion without clearing it with the DoJ and EU first.
Trust me. No one except those like you who can't seem to tolerate a learning curve uses Windows because they actually want to. Windows is only successful because it was artificially given a market by Microsoft
Stop blaming Linux for your inability to get a clue on how to actually use it.
And I reiterate, it's easier to fix Linux without having to use crippled recovery tools or reinstalling it the way Windows forces you to.
phazedMay 7th 2009 10:03PM
Figures it doesn't work in XP home edition. Low rung users like me need all the help we can get. Why doesn't it work anyway?
oakiebugMay 8th 2009 8:49AM
I can't get it to work on my Vista home premium. After I type in the location and hit "next" it tells me the location cannot be found and will not set the shortcut. thanks anyway
bard61May 8th 2009 10:26AM
This useful little trick can be made to work on Windows XP Home. Just ask a friend who is running XP Pro (make sure that you are both at the same service pack level) to E-mail
you a copy of the TASKKILL.EXE file. Save it to the "\Windows\System32\" folder and you're ready to try it.
Marebear2406May 14th 2009 3:49PM
Great solution to an annoying problem. Thanks. =]
Colin TAug 7th 2009 9:53AM
I am not spamming here, but you should try Revo uninstaller for the purpose of unfreezing. It does lots of clever things, uninstalling being just one of them. It is entirely free, safe and reliable. It has a feature called "hunter mode" that you can leave permanently running or call up when you need to that will uninstall, kill or kill and delete frozen programs. Plus it has a host of extremely useful features, i would not be without it, all my friends rave about it too.
arbaraltNov 20th 2009 12:19AM
But if the program is frozen, you can't close it, how do you get to the desktop?
eatshitFeb 28th 2010 8:46PM
That's where keyboard shortcuts come in handy.
JonnoApr 16th 2010 4:56AM
Alt + Tab, sir. Easily one of the most useful and necessary keyboard shortcuts available.
artizgreatApr 6th 2010 4:10PM
ok ...I am admittedly technologically challenged ! My first etch-a-sketch only had one knob on it ! I'm running windows xp ...and I believe it is not the pro version. These "not responding" messages are driving me insane ... and believe me, that's not a long drive ! Will someone PLEASE give me a solution to this problem in very simple layman's terminology ??? I will be forever indebted to whoever saves me from my inevitable insanity.
WowDec 29th 2010 6:39AM
So according th Yaro there are absolutely no flaws at all with Linux and God himself uses it