How To Kill A Process In Windows 10

Introduction

A process is an instance of a program that is being executed. Each process running in Windows is assigned a unique number called the process ID or PID.

When you start an app, the operating system creates a process for an executable file of the app. It contains its current activity. If you notice a running process is reducing your computer's performance because it's hung, not responding, or using a high percentage of CPU and/or memory resources, then you can kill the process to end it.

Multiple open and running apps/processes on your desktop or laptop can lead the system to become slow and even face some errors. To terminate all running processes, the first thing you’re considering is forceful restarting. Forget about doing it because forceful restarting could lead to computer and system file damage. Instead, follow these methods on how to kill all the processes in Windows 10 properly.

This tutorial will show you 2 ways how to kill a process in Windows 10.

Method 1. Via Task Manager

Using the Task Manager, the user can kill a process in a simpler way. Follow the below instructions to proceed.

Step 1. Press the "Ctrl + Alt + Delete" Key or the "Window + X" Key and click the Task Manager option.

Step 2. Click on the "Processes" Tab.

Step 3. Select a process you want to kill and perform one of the actions below.

• Press the Delete key.
• Click on the End Task button.
• Right-click on the process, and click on End task. 

Method 2. Using Command Prompt

Users can also kill a process by using the Command Prompt. Follow the below instructions to proceed.

Step 1. Open Command Prompt (Cmd).

Step 2. Type "tasklist" into the command prompt and press "Enter" Key. This command shows all the currently running processes in your system.

Step 3

1. To Kill Process using Process/Image Name
   • Type the command below you want to use into the command prompt to kill only one Process, and press Enter Key.

     taskkill /IM Process Name /F

     Example
     To kill Notepad, run the command 

     taskkill /IM notepad.exe /F

     where /F is used to kill the process forcefully.
     
   • Type the command below you want to use into the command prompt to kill multiple processes simultaneously, and press Enter Key.

     taskkill /IM Process Name /IM Process Name /F

2. To kill the process using PID
   • Type the command below you want to use into the command prompt to kill only one Process, and press Enter Key.

     taskkill /PID PID /F

     Example
     To kill Notepad, run the command as

     taskkill /PID 7324 /F, where /F
     

     where /F is used to kill the process forcefully.
     
   • Type the command below that you want to use into the command prompt to kill multiple processes simultaneously, and press Enter Key.

     taskkill /PID PID  /PID PID /F

Conclusion

By following any of the above methods, the process can be killed in Windows 10 either by using Task Manager or Command Prompt (CMD).

I hope you enjoyed this article. Follow C# Corner to learn more new and amazing things about Windows 10.

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