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Computers

A Free Beginner’s Guide for Learning about the Personal Computer and Associated Systems

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14 February 2010

Last Site Update:

Doctrina Nam Laurus

(Learning for Success)

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Troubleshooting Personal Computers - 3

Windows Task Manager

Introduction

Broadly, Task Manager can be used to:

Start and end processes
Start programs
Display a dynamic view of system performance

For the purposes of this troubleshooting instruction, only the relevant functions of the Applications and Processes tabs are described.

Other functions will be described in future revisions of this guide.

Forcing the Close of a Document or Application

To access the Task Manager and to force a problem document or application to close, complete the following.

Press the CTRL+ALT+DELETE / DEL keys at the same time to display the Windows Task Manager dialogue box or an option to select Task Manager.

Applications Tab

Select the Applications tab if not already displayed.
Click the Task that has stopped responding to select it.
Click the End Task button.
Repeat this process for each task that is not responding.

If this does not work, continue below.

Processes Tab

Select the Processes tab.
Click the Process to be stopped to select it.
Click the End Process button to close the problem document or application.
Repeat this process for any other processes that need to be stopped.

Take care when selecting a process to stop. If you are unsure of which process should be stopped, but still try, you could either lose date and / or stop an important system process, which means that you will have to restart the PC to recover normal functioning.

If this does not work, continue below.

Restarting the PC

If neither of the above options are successful because Task Manager cannot close the problem task/s, you will have to restart the PC by:

1. Using the Windows Turn Off Computer function, i.e. the normal shutdown method

2. Pressing the power button on the case.

Restarting the PC with open applications is a last resort for solving a freeze / hang problems.

If the problem re-occurs, there could be a conflict, corruption or a more complex problem. Don’t let it keep happening as you could lose information. As a starting point, refer to the Hardware and Software problem resolution information in this guide.

Continue to the next page for information on troubleshooting people problems.