Program to End Process on Windows 11

[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 sadly I can't use a lower Windows version on this laptop. 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?

[NotHereToPlayGames]

Interesting.  So it's not just me...
Granted, my Win11 (forced in order to use Intuit TurboTax) is strictly VM.
But...  And perhaps similar to your Firefox crash, if TurboTax performs an UPDATE, it too does not properly CLOSE and therefore cannot be restarted.

In my case, Task Manager actually gets me back but I have to terminate a WINDOWS INSTALLER PROCESS that TurboTax opened and THEN terminate the unresponsive TurboTax.

So maybe your Firefox opened SOMETHING ELSE and that has to be terminated before you can terminate Firefox ???

Outside of that possibility, if indeed Task Manager cannot get you there, I use System Informer on my host for this type of situation.
I'm using version 3.0.5578 because newer versions do not show my GPU activity properly.
I only use the "release-bin" and never the "release-setup", but that choice is yours.
The NEWER versions are available from here - https://sourceforge.net/projects/systeminformer/files/
The OLDER versions are available from here - sorry, spent about three minutes trying to find, maybe they don't allow them to be downloaded anymore?

[tekkaman]

On 1/26/2026 at 3:17 PM, NotHereToPlayGames said:

Interesting.  So it's not just me...
Granted, my Win11 (forced in order to use Intuit TurboTax) is strictly VM.
But...  And perhaps similar to your Firefox crash, if TurboTax performs an UPDATE, it too does not properly CLOSE and therefore cannot be restarted.

In my case, Task Manager actually gets me back but I have to terminate a WINDOWS INSTALLER PROCESS that TurboTax opened and THEN terminate the unresponsive TurboTax.

So maybe your Firefox opened SOMETHING ELSE and that has to be terminated before you can terminate Firefox ???

Outside of that possibility, if indeed Task Manager cannot get you there, I use System Informer on my host for this type of situation.
I'm using version 3.0.5578 because newer versions do not show my GPU activity properly.
I only use the "release-bin" and never the "release-setup", but that choice is yours.
The NEWER versions are available from here - https://sourceforge.net/projects/systeminformer/files/
The OLDER versions are available from here - sorry, spent about three minutes trying to find, maybe they don't allow them to be downloaded anymore?

Thank you I'll check it out when I get home. My problem happens with any software that crashes not just Firefox. I just mentioned it as an example. 

[Tripredacus]

Process Explorer 

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

It is portable also. 

Manually using taskkill

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/taskkill

[chermany4ever]

Hello tekkaman. A little late but since I see your thread: a couple months ago wanted to finally stop fighting with XP and I'm using now a modified version of win11 (x-lite) and what I can tell you is that 80% of the programs that I used daily in XP worked perfectly in portable mode. Something I couldn't achieve even with win7. I just copied the .exe files and most of them worked.

 

The program that I always used to do what you asked for is KillProcess -from Orange Lamp- which allows you to kill any program and also edit a list of programs to kill automatically if one of the list were to run. The version I use is 2.44. It is very effective and lightweight.

Edited 4 hours ago by chermany4ever

[NotHereToPlayGames]

10 minutes ago, chermany4ever said:

Something I couldn't achieve even with win7.

Agreed!  I've stopped fighting with XP also, almost two years or so now.

It's been a GIANT godsend !!!  I run Win10 LTSC and everything just runs a HELLAVUALOT better !!!  With VASTLY better memory management !!!

An outright GODSEND.

[chermany4ever]

11 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

VASTLY better memory management

I'm super surprised that most of the programs worked right out of the box in portable mode. And since I only have 4gb of ram, it's really convenient for me to use all those x86 programs 'cause they use almost no ram and take up very little space. They do the job just as well as ever, giving me the results I need.

 

Windows 11 is proving to be robust, predictable in its downsides and unpredictable in its upsides.  

[NotHereToPlayGames]

55 minutes ago, chermany4ever said:

Windows 11 is proving to be robust, predictable in its downsides and unpredictable in its upsides.  

I only use 11 on one of my laptops but also inside a VM here on my primary workhorse.  Tweaked, of course.  I prefer (heavily!) to tweak myself and kind of "boycott" things like X-Lite.

X-Lite is VERY GOOD.  I just DO NOT TRUST IT for my use.  Not to be misread, I don't have any reason to not trust it, I just trust MY OWN tweaked OS's far far FAR better.  

Edited 3 hours ago by NotHereToPlayGames

[chermany4ever]

17 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

kind of "boycott" things like X-Lite

 

That's certainly curious. Boycotting the boycotter.

 

In my case, one of the things I'm heavily looking for with these modified versions is minimal space usage. There are many available these days, most for gamers. Many deliver incredible results compared to the official versions. But again, when I tried to "clean up" a Windows 11 myself, couldn't get it below 5gb. So when I found that, for example, Windows X-Lite Atomic 11 takes up about 2.7gb freshly installed... I could not resist! I have to use it. Don't wanna invest time to research what I can and can't delete. I trust Conan and his years of experience.       

[NotHereToPlayGames]

4 minutes ago, chermany4ever said:

I trust Conan and his years of experience.

To be perfectly honest, one of the primary reasons that I tweak and optimize myself is because one of Conan's releases that I was testing PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE with an uncalled for SOLICITATION to purchase a LICENSE for StartIsBack/StartAllBack.  A never-asked-for and nowhere referenced on his website that his builds INCLUDED a *third-party* BUNDLE that I do not want, did not ask for, will NEVER use BECAUSE of that UNSOLICITED punch in the face!

"To each their own."

[chermany4ever]

26 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE with an uncalled for SOLICITATION to purchase a LICENSE for StartIsBack/StartAllBack

 

Many times these modified versions come with tweaks and third-party apps. I'm used to it so the first thing I do is disable and delete anything I don't need... to free up space!

 

29 minutes ago, NotHereToPlayGames said:

"To each their own."

 

Indeed, my friend.