8 ways to close apps and programs in Windows

There are many ways to close apps and programs in Windows, some faster and more convenient than others.

After you finish using a Windows app or program, or if it is not responding properly, you may want to close it. Either way, closing apps and programs in Windows is easy.

Both Windows 10 and Windows 11 offer several ways to close apps and programs. All of them are described below.

1. Close the app or program using the X button

Using the X button is the most common way to close apps and programs in Windows. If you’ve been using Windows for a while, this is probably the first method that comes to mind.

Hover your mouse over the top right corner of the app you want to close and tap X button.

A lesser-known way to close apps and programs in Windows is through the title bar menu.

Right-click the title bar of the app window and select close From the context menu that appears.You can also press Alt + Spacebar Access the title bar menu and Ha Press the key on your keyboard to close the app window.

3. Close Apps or Programs from the Taskbar

You may use the taskbar to monitor active apps and programs in Windows. But did you know that you can also close apps and programs from there?

1. Hover your mouse cursor over the app icon on the taskbar.
2. When you see a preview of the active window, red x Close the app by clicking the button in the upper right corner of the preview.

   

Alternatively, right-click the app icon in the taskbar and select close the window Options from the resulting menu. If you have multiple instances of your app, close all windows.

4. Close Apps or Programs from Task Switcher

The task switcher is a handy Windows feature that allows you to switch between open windows. Here’s how to use it to close apps and programs in Windows.

1. press Ctrl + Alt + Tab Type together on your keyboard to access the Windows task switcher.
2. Find the app you want to close and tap X icon in the upper right corner of the preview

If you like this method, check out how to customize the task switcher in Windows.

5. Use Alt + F4 keyboard shortcut to close an app or program

also, Alt + F4 A keyboard shortcut for closing an app or program in Windows.To do this, switch to the app or program you want to close and press Alt + F4 Close together on the keyboard.

Love using keyboard shortcuts in Windows? Find out how to assign keyboard shortcuts to programs in Windows to open apps faster.

6. Close the app or program in Task Manager

If you can’t close the app because it’s not responding, you can use Task Manager to force it to close. Here are the same steps:

1. Right click on the start icon or Win + X Open the power user menu and select task manager from the list.Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Shift + Esc together on your keyboard to quickly open Task Manager.
2. in the process Find the app or program you want to close in the tab.right click on it and select end task From the context menu that appears.

   

Using Task Manager isn’t the only way to kill apps in Windows. also, taskkill command or a dedicated third-party app for that purpose. For more information on this topic, see our guide on how to kill programs in Windows without using Task Manager.

7. Close the app or program using Command Prompt or PowerShell

Not a fan of GUIs? No problem. You can also close an app or program on Windows using Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell. The process isn’t as complicated as you might think, just running a few commands. Here’s how you go about it.

1. press Victory + S Click to open the search menu.
2. type command prompt Also power shell Press in the search menu come in.
3. type task list in the console come in View a list of running apps and processes.
4. To close an app or program, type the following command and press come in. Be sure to replace program name with the actual name of the app you want to close.

    taskkill /im ProgramName.exe /t /f 

   

After running the above command, you should see a message that the app has terminated. If you already know the name of the app or program, you can run her one command mentioned in the last step to close it.

8. Close apps from Windows settings

The final way to close apps is through the Settings app in Windows. It may not be as fast as the other methods on this list, but it can definitely help if an app becomes unresponsive in Windows.

Use the following steps to close apps using the Settings app.

1. [スタート]Open the menu and click the gear icon to launch the Settings app.Alternatively, you can press win + me Quickly launch the Settings app.
2. Navigate using the left pane app.
3. select Installed apps from the right pane.
4. Scroll down or use the search tool to find the app you want to close.
5. click Three-point menu Click the icon next to the app to select it advanced options.
6. scroll down end button.

   

After completing the above steps, Windows will immediately terminate all app-related processes. Note that this method only works for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps.

Different ways to close an app or program in Windows

As we saw earlier, there are many ways to close an app or program in Windows. Closing apps in Windows is quick and easy, whether you use keyboard shortcuts or the command-line method.

Don’t worry if you accidentally close some apps. Easily reopen recently closed apps using third-party programs such as ReOpen and UndoClose.