Windows 11 users, take note: There's a hidden feature recently introduced by Microsoft that allows you to kill an app that has stopped responding (or is otherwise not working) in a much faster way than the normal route.
The new functionality is an option to right-click directly on any application icon in the taskbar and select Final task to kill it, right there and then, the same way you can kill an app in Task Manager, but with a lot less hassle.
This traditional method to kill a stuck or unresponsive app in Windows 11 (or Windows 10) is to open Task Manager (by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Escape is the quickest way), then you need to scroll down to find the software process that is malfunctioning. Then, it's a matter of clicking on the application and pressing the button Delete key (or you can right click and select Final task from the drop-down menu).
Every now and then, I find myself having to force-quit apps, and doing it this way, via Task Manager, is pretty cumbersome. Simply clicking on the unresponsive app in the taskbar and closing it outright makes life a lot simpler, but while this option is present in Windows 11 now, it’s not enabled by default. However, if you don’t mind digging into Windows 11’s menus a bit, it’s easy enough to turn the feature on (or off) in the Settings app.
How to enable the new Task Killer feature
Here's how you can enable this right-click 'End Task' option on the taskbar – just follow these steps:
1. Open the Settings app – you can do this by pressing the button Gain + Yo keys at the same time, or search for it in the taskbar search box.
2. In the left side menu, select System.
3. Scroll down and click on the 'For developers' section. (Note that these settings are intended for developers, but we'll just be applying a minor tweak here; don't be tempted to change anything else here.)
4. Navigate to the Final task settings and change it In by clicking the switch.
5. Test the newly enabled option in an app running on your taskbar.
6. Right click on the application icon and select Final task – This should kill the app.
To disable this feature, simply follow the steps above, but change the slider in step 4 to Off.
You may run into issues if you try to do this on larger apps or games because, as Tom's Hardware points out, these can take a while to load and may crash and freeze before the icon appears on the taskbar. In this case, there's nothing to right-click on in the taskbar and you'll be forced to head into Task Manager and find the relevant “background process” to kill.
All in all, this is a useful shortcut that will save me many frustrating moments in the future. Plus, it's easy to turn on or off. It's a commendable introduction by Microsoft and I hope to see more shortcuts like this in the future.
