Hi! Today, once again, I had a problem that quite often happens when I run an archaic game on a new system (e.g. Windows 10) – everything freezes and I can’t even run the task manager. This is quite annoying because it is associated with an unhealthy computer RESET. There is a way out though.
Let's use command prompt
Fortunately, when you press the WINDOWS key, you can use the RUN option, i.e. simply enter the name of the program you want to run. We want to run the command line from which we run the process that will kill (!) The program (or game) which causes us problems. To do this, press the WINDOWS key on the keyboard (usually in the lower left corner of the keyboard, between the CTRL and ALT keys) and type cmd and then press ENTER.
Fig. 1 Location of the WINDOWS key
Fig. 2 Press the WINDOWS key …
Fig. 3 … and enter cmd then press ENTER
Cool! You already have access to the command line. Now you have to … give the order! That is, “order” to close the faulty program (yes, unfortunately you need to know the exact name of the program you want to close). To do this, enter the following command in the console bar:
taskkill.exe /f /im XXX.exe
where XXX.exe is the name of the program you want to close (e.g. explorer.exe). Once you have entered the command, press ENTER.
Fig. 4 The command entered in the command console
OK, if everything went well then your faulty program should close. Below is an example of how the closing explorer.exe process should look like:
Fig. 5 Closing the explorer.exe process
And that’s actually the whole philosophy. Without a computer reset, which is healthy for our beloved hardware.
Let's make shortcut for our command
Fig. 6 Right-click on the desktop, select New -> Shortcut
A shortcut creation window will appear. Enter the same command there that you previously entered in the console bar:
taskkill.exe /f /im XXX.exe
where XXX.exe is the name of the program you want to close. Then select the NEXT button.
Fig. 7 Entering a command when creating a shortcut
OK, you still have to name your new shortcut. Windows will tell you what to name by default for the new shortcut, but you can of course enter something different.
Fig. 8 and 9 Naming the new shortcut
OK, now you have everything is set. Although…
…not completely! It may happen that you will try to close a process that can only be closed by someone with Administrator privileges. Unfortunately, if your account does not have Administrator rights, you will do nothing. But if it has, then you can command the shortcut to run with admin privileges. How to do it?
Fig. 10 Phew, luckily I have Administrator privileges 🙂 You can check your account rights by going to the control panel and going to the ACCOUNT item.
Fig. 11 Go to Shortcut properties
Then in the Shortcut tab click the Advanced … button
Fig. 12 Go to advanced options
… and check the option Run as administrator. And that’s it. Confirm your selection with the OK button. You will be taken to the previous window. There, click APPLY and OK. Now your shortcut will run with Administrator privileges.
Fig. 13 Check the Run as administrator option. Confirm your selection with the OK button, then select APPLY and OK.