It becomes so bad that you have to buy a whole new computer. Why would you have to buy a new computer when you can simply clean install? Answer from 4wh457 on reddit.com
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Quora
quora.com › How-do-I-stop-close-down-all-apps-and-programs-on-my-Windows-10-PC-I-used-the-shut-off-button-on-the-tower-but-a-particular-app-is-still-on-when-I-turn-the-PC-back-on-I-can-t-seem-to-uninstall-an-app
How to stop/close down all apps and programs on my Windows 10 PC - Quora
Following the steps mentioned above, you should close all other programs to ensure no other app is conflicting or eating up PC resources. Check the taskbar and make sure no other program is open. After that, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Windows Task Manager. Here look through the Processes tab to ensure no unrequired apps are running.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/techsupport › how can i gracefully close all open apps except explorer with one click or keystroke?
r/techsupport on Reddit: How can I gracefully close all open apps except Explorer with one click or keystroke?
June 20, 2024 -

I'm doing some testing and frequently need to gracefully close all open apps either before running a program or rebooting. The batch file and PowerShell methods I've tried shut down chrome improperly, so I need to restore all open tabs. I want to simulate closing the app manually.

The main apps I typically have open are Chrome, Word, Titan Mail, Thunderbird, an image management program, Photoshop, possibly other Office or Adobe programs, and Notepad.

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How "gracefully" are you talking? There are multiple ways to close a program. The batch file/PowerShell method might be graceful or not, depending on exactly which commands you used. One option is to forcefully terminate each process/process group before shut down. There are also commands to gracefully ask a program to terminate. Generally it's the same command (taskkill/Stop-Process), without the /f/-force parameter. You can also interact with the program's GUI to close it, eg. using Alt+F4 keyboard shortcut,or clicking the X button in the top right (if there is one), or using File->Close in the menu bar (if it has one), or right-clicking the program icon in the taskbar and selecting Close Window. Applications may respond differently between graceful requests to terminate from the OS, and the GUI options to close. For example you mentioned Chrome, where the behaviour to automatically reopen tabs only occurs if the GUI is used to close the browser (and the option to automatically restore tabs is set), but not if you forcefully close it via command line (taskkill /f /IM chrome.exe). However it will restore tabs if you do it gracefully (taskkill /IM chrome.exe). Not all programs will necessarily behave the same way, however both Chrome and Word do.If you want to ensure you get the desired behaviour, the only reliable way to reproduce a GUI close is to use automation tools to simulate the same GUI interaction. You mentioned AutoHotKey in another comment, and yes that's one solution to achieve this. The problem is, if you want to automate this GUI interaction you also need to handle scenarios where the program refuses to close. Like in Word or Notepad, if you have an unsaved document, the GUI methods will prompt the user to save changes first. Each program will behave differently, so you'll need to account for every app you might possibly have open, and the different behaviours it might have to different states. At that point you either have an overly complicated automation, or you only have partial automation with user intervention required to handle any exceptions. Or you just accept the fact that terminating gracefully via command line is the easiest solution, even if some applications might not handle it the way you want. If you're willing to dig deeper, you might be interested in ARSO. But it'll only work with applications that explicitly support it, and I don't know of any way to trigger it manually.
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You can't do it gracefully... Curiosity why/what makes you need this?
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Wikihow
wikihow.com › computers and electronics › operating systems › windows › windows 10 › how to close apps in windows 10: easiest ways
How to Close Apps in Windows 10: Easiest Ways
February 11, 2026 - Select the app you want to close. Click End task at the top. ... Use the Task View window. Task View lets you see all open windows and desktops (if you have more than one set up).
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/windows10 › how to close all background programs in windows?
r/Windows10 on Reddit: How to close all background programs in Windows?
August 20, 2022 -

We've all seen this happen. When you first buy a Windows PC, it seems to operate like a breeze. Programs open up and run with no difficulty.

Then after several months everything slows up. It becomes so bad that you have to buy a whole new computer. The assumption is there are some background processes that continue to run that prevent the computer from running more quickly. So how can you close all those background processes?

I know about opening the Task Manager. But there are usually so many processes running you can't tell which ones are essential for Windows to operate. I have tried shutting down some processes at random but I almost always get the warning "this is a system process and can't be shut down."

So can we shut down all those background processes so the computer is back to original pristine state and only the processes for the one program you want to run are operating?

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It becomes so bad that you have to buy a whole new computer. Why would you have to buy a new computer when you can simply clean install?
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The PC I am currently using I built in 2014. I installed Windows 8.1 at the time, and upgraded through Windows 10 until today. I think the "Windows rot" people always refer to, where they claim how WIndows gets slower over time, is really just bad maintenance. over time. People install a bunch of stuff on their machines but never take the time to "clean up" the system. It's like if you live in a house and never tidy up. It's going to start looking like shit, but nobody calls it "house rot". Some people propose reinstalling windows every X amount of time to "avoid" this problem. Which to me is sort of like buying a new house to avoid sweeping and vacuuming. But there are usually so many processes running you can't tell which ones are essential for Windows to operate. On the details tab you can see the actual executables. You can right-click them and go to their location and then check the properties of the file. You can also check Services in the services list. "Autoruns" can be used to investigate services and scheduled tasks and can filter out microsoft ones to see what other software might be plopping onto your system. A lot of programs like to slap in scheduled tasks and updater services and stuff. Did you know that Chrome install adds a scheduled task to take an inventory of all the software on your computer? Not sure if it sends it to google but I always felt it was a waste of my computers resources either way. Software like ShellExView can see/disable shell extensions. I use this to remove right-click context menu extensions because a lot of software adds itself there when it really has no purpose being there. This will also show if there are registrations for shell extensions that no longer exist- uninstalled programs that didn't properly unregister themselves. These could impact performance as Windows tries to instantiate the non-existent components.
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CCleaner
ccleaner.com › knowledge › 5-ways-to-force-quit-any-frozen-app-on-windows
How to force quit on a Windows PC — CCleaner
Learn how to force quit on a Windows PC whether you're dealing with a frozen program or an unresponsive computer using various methods.
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The Windows Club
thewindowsclub.com › the windows club › how to close running apps on windows 11
How to close running Apps on Windows 11
July 7, 2025 - Click on the X button in the app window. Use the keyboard shortcut to close the app. Close an app from the taskbar. Close an app from Task Switcher. Use Task Manager to close running apps.
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Microsoft Support
support.microsoft.com › en-us › windows › close-an-app-in-windows-6a212da5-6f26-2252-c72d-98544e606e9a
Close an app in Windows
If you're in Windows 10 and you're ... these possible solutions in the order presented. Close and reopen the app. Select the Close (X) button in the upper-right corner of the app window to close it....
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Digital Citizen
digitalcitizen.life › close-apps-windows-10
8 ways to close apps in Windows 10 like a Pro | Digital Citizen
October 5, 2025 - Close an app from its taskbar menu If more windows of the same app are open, the option at the bottom is called "Close all windows" instead. Clicking or tapping on it closes all the instances of an app running on your Windows 10 computer or device.
Find elsewhere
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HelloTech
hellotech.com › home › how to force quit an app on a windows 10 pc
How To Force Quit an App on a Windows 10 PC : HelloTech How
January 25, 2024 - Click End task to close the program. Click the Windows key + R on your keyboard at the same time. The Windows key is the one with the Windows logo to the left of your space bar. Then type “cmd” in the search box and hit enter on your keyboard.
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Real.com
customer.real.com › hc › en-us › articles › 204039463-Close-programs-running-in-the-background-in-Windows
Close programs running in the background in Windows – SUPPORT
From the Applications tab, highlight each application you want to close and then click End Task. 4. Now open the Processes tab. For each program you want to close, highlight it/click it once and then click End Process.
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ZDNET
zdnet.com › home › tech › services & software › operating systems › windows
How to force-quit applications in Windows | ZDNET
May 14, 2024 - In Windows 10 or 11, right-click the Start button and select Task Manager from the menu or press Ctrl+Shift+Esc. If Task Manager opens in compact view, you can click the button for More details to see the full view.
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Verificient
verificient.freshdesk.com › support › solutions › articles › 1000325125-ways-to-force-quit-apps-or-programs-on-a-windows-pc
Ways to force quit apps or programs on a Windows PC : Support
To quickly force quit on Windows, use the keyboard shortcut Alt + F4. You can also force quit on Windows by using Task Manager or Command Prompt. If these methods don't work, try restarting your computer. How to force quit on Windows usin...
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Hi C, this is Kimberly. I'm glad to assist you today.

Unfortunately, Windows itself doesn’t have a built-in “close all without saving” command, the prompt is coming from WordPerfect, not from Windows, and it’s deliberately there to prevent data loss.

That means the only ways to bypass it are:

1. Use WordPerfect’s own settings (if available) to disable the prompt

Some older versions of WordPerfect have an option in Tools → Settings → Environment or Files to control the "Confirm save on close" behavior.

If your version has such a setting, you could temporarily turn off the confirmation prompt, close all documents, then turn it back on.

However, many versions don’t have this feature.

2. Force-quit the processes from Task Manager

If you’re absolutely sure you don’t want to save anything, you can:

Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc)

Go to the Details or Processes tab (depending on Windows version)

Find each wpwin*.exe or WordPerfect process (you’ll see ~25 of them)

Select them all (Ctrl-click or Shift-click), then press End Task.

This will terminate WordPerfect instantly without saving changes — no prompts will appear.

Warning: This is the software equivalent of yanking the power cord — you will lose any unsaved changes (which in your case is the goal).

3. Command-line kill (faster for many windows)

Instead of ending them one by one in Task Manager, you can run in Command Prompt or PowerShell:

Command Prompt

taskkill /IM wpwin*.exe /F

PowerShell

Stop-Process -Name "wpwin*" -Force

This closes all running instances of WordPerfect instantly.

4. Future prevention tip

If you’ll do this again, consider opening such files in read-only mode (many programs, including WordPerfect, have “File → Open → Read-Only” checkboxes) so they won’t be marked as changed, and you can close them without prompts.

Should you have more questions, please let me know.

Best regards,

Kimberly

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MakeUseOf
makeuseof.com › home › windows › 8 different ways to close apps and programs on windows
8 Different Ways to Close Apps and Programs on Windows
December 25, 2022 - Type tasklist in the console and press Enter to view a list of running apps and processes. To close an app or program, type the following command and press Enter. Make sure you replace ProgramName with the actual name of the app you want to close.
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Windows 10 Forums
tenforums.com › general-support › 129866-how-force-close-all-apps-restart-shutdown.html
How to force close all apps on restart or shutdown ? Solved - Windows 10 Forums
Create a shortcut on the desktop that has this in it: shutdown /f /r /t 0 /f = Force running applications to close without forewarning users. /r = Full shutdown and restart the computer. /t 0 = Set the time-out period before shutdown to 0 seconds (immediate restart).
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Microsoft Support
support.microsoft.com › en-us › windows › windows-background-apps-and-your-privacy-83f2de44-d2d9-2b29-4649-2afe0913360a
Windows background apps and your privacy - Microsoft Support
If you don't want to get notifications or updates for an app when you're not using it, you can set it so it won't run in the background. Select Start , then select Settings > Apps > Installed apps. Scroll to the desired app, select More options on the right edge of the window, then select Advanced ...
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EaseUS
easeus.com › partition manager › how to stop programs from running in the background on windows 10/11
How to Stop Programs from Running in the Background on Windows 10/11 - EaseUS
January 29, 2026 - To manage background activity, you can press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch task manager and disable apps from Startup. ... Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon and select Settings. Step 2. Select the Privacy and click on the Background apps. Step 3. Then you can see the toggle on the right side. Close all background apps - Under the "Let apps run in the background" section, turn off the toggle switch...