Forcing a process to close or terminate is sometimes necessary when an application becomes unresponsive or frozen. This can happen for a variety of reasons – the program may have encountered an error, bug, or infinite loop. Or, there may be some underlying issue with system resources that is preventing the process from exiting naturally. Whatever the cause, users will occasionally find themselves needing to end a stubborn process that refuses to quit gracefully.
What does “force delete” mean?
When we talk about force deleting or force quitting a process, we essentially mean terminating it uncleanly or abruptly. This is different than the normal, graceful way a program closes – where the application has a chance to save its state, clean up resources, and notify the operating system that it is shutting down. Force quitting circumvents this and kills the process immediately, which can potentially result in lost or corrupted data.
Why would I need to force delete a process?
The most common scenarios where force deleting a process becomes necessary include:
- An application is not responding to input and seems frozen.
- An application is consuming too many system resources (CPU, RAM, etc).
- An unwanted application is running that you are unable to close through normal means.
- An application has entered an infinite loop or illegal state.
- You suspect malware or spyware is running a stealth process.
Essentially any time an application is misbehaving, unresponsive, or stubbornly refusing to close normally, force deletion becomes an option. End users will want to force quit apps if they have become unusable. System administrators may need to terminate high resource processes that are hogging system capacity. And malware removal may require force deleting stealthy executables.
What are the risks of force deleting processes?
While force quitting misbehaving apps is certainly useful, it also carries some risks to be aware of:
- Data loss or corruption – Process does not get to save state or clean up appropriately.
- System instability – Other processes or OS may depend on the one you are forcing to close.
- Security risks – Force quitting security tools, utilities, or firewalls could expose system.
- Loss of diagnostics – You lose debugging information from a clean shutdown.
- Incomplete uninstall – Forcibly terminating an application mid-uninstall may leave behind artifacts.
Anything critical should generally be allowed to close normally if possible. Additionally, core operating system processes should never be force quit except under direct guidance of technical support. Terminating essential system apps risks crashes or data loss.
When should I avoid force deleting processes?
Because of the risks involved, there are some scenarios where you will want to avoid force quitting processes:
- When closing apps used for critical work to avoid data loss.
- Terminating operating system or hardware driver processes.
- Quitting security tools like antivirus, firewalls, VPN clients.
- During installation/uninstallation of software.
- If the computer seems to be fully frozen and unresponsive.
In these situations, there is significant chance of harming system stability, losing data, or exposing security vulnerabilities. Unless directly instructed to by technical support staff, these processes should be left to close normally if possible.
How can I avoid needing to force delete processes?
While force quitting will always remain a useful last resort, there are things you can do to avoid needing it as often:
- Close apps cleanly through their exit functions vs. the X close button.
- Restart computer regularly to clear out resource issues.
- Keep software updated to most recent stable versions.
- Don’t overload system by multitasking excessively.
- Check for malware/spyware that may be slowing down computer.
- Add more RAM if system is consistently starved for memory.
Practicing good computer hygiene essentially – closing instead of killing apps, keeping system lean, and giving sufficient capacity – can minimize system freezes and uncloseable apps.
Methods to force delete processes on Windows
On Windows operating systems, there are a couple methods to force quit applications when standard closing does not work:
Task Manager
The Windows Task Manager provides a view of all running processes and allows forcibly ending them:
- Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL keys to bring up Task Manager.
- Select the “Processes” tab at top.
- Find the troubled process you want to close.
- Right click on it and select “End Task” to terminate it.
Taskkill command
The taskkill command can force quit processes from an elevated Command Prompt window:
- Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
- Run “taskkill /F /IM processname.exe” (use /PID instead of /IM for PID).
This will forcibly and immediately terminate the given process. Additional switches like /T can tree kill child processes too.
Methods to force delete processes on Mac
On macOS, these options are available for force quitting unresponsive apps:
Force Quit Dialog
- Choose Apple Menu > Force Quit.
- Select unresponsive application.
- Click Force Quit button to kill it.
Command-Option-Esc
The keyboard shortcut Command-Option-Esc launches an even faster Force Quit window. Just select app and force kill.
kill command
Terminal’s kill command can immediately terminate processes by PID:
- Get PID with Activity Monitor or ps command.
- Run “kill -9 PID” in Terminal to force quit.
Methods to force delete processes on Linux
On Linux distributions, administrators have these options for the harshest process terminations:
xkill
The xkill utility allows clicking on any window to forcibly close the associated application immediately.
kill command
The kill command sends a KILL signal that abruptly terminates processes instead of the default TERM signal.
- Get PID with ps, top, or Activity Monitor.
- Run “kill -9 PID” in Terminal to force kill.
killall
killall works directly on process names instead of PIDs, killing all matching instances.
- Run “killall -9 processname” to force kill all processname apps.
This ends the given application immediately regardless of state.
What to do if force delete fails
In rare cases, even using force quit options may not terminate an unresponsive application. If force killing a process fails to end it, some other options include:
- Use Task Manager/Activity Monitor to end associated child processes.
- Restart computer into Safe Mode then force delete.
- Use third party “destroyer” utilities designed to kill stubborn apps.
- On Linux, terminate from single user mode which disables services.
- On Windows, adjust permissions to take Full Control ownership of executable.
- As last resort, power cycle computer and force power off during reboot.
But in general, if force quitting does not work – and the program is not critical – letting it be may be the wisest course of action. A frozen system should be restarted cleanly versus trying risky forced termination techniques.
Conclusion
While force deleting processes should only be used as a last resort, it remains a useful technique for reclaiming control of frozen or stubborn applications that refuse to close normally. To safely implement forced termination, be sure to:
- Understand risks like data loss and instability.
- Avoid force quitting system or security processes.
- Follow proper procedures for your platform.
- Exercise caution and restraint to limit potential damage.
Armed with knowledge on how and when to force kill, plus alternatives like cleanly exiting apps and restarting systems, users can take back control from any unruly application process.
| Platform | Force Delete Method 1 | Force Delete Method 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Task Manager | taskkill command |
| Mac | Force Quit Dialog | Command-Option-Esc |
| Linux | xkill | kill command |
This table summarizes the common methods for force deleting processes on major operating system platforms. Both graphical and command line options are presented to give administrators flexibility in force quitting unresponsive applications.