How to force quit an app in Windows 11

End task in Windows

1. Try Alt F4. With the affected window in front, press Alt F4 to ask it to close. If it stays frozen, continue below.
2. Open Task Manager. Press Ctrl Shift Esc, then select Processes.
3. Choose the frozen app. Check its name, then right-click its entry and choose End task.

Save anything you can before ending an app. Unsaved work in the app you close may be lost.

Use the taskbar shortcut

1. Open Windows Settings. Go to System, then Advanced. Under Taskbar, turn on End Task.
2. Right-click the running app's taskbar icon. Choose End task to close it.

Windows gives you these controls in Task Manager and on the taskbar. Glassline adds Force Quit to the app's name in its menu bar.

Force Quit from the menu bar

1. Install Glassline from the Microsoft Store. Open it to get the menu bar at the top of the screen and the dock at the bottom.
2. Find the frozen app's name. The name of the app you are using sits at the left end of the menu bar. It stays there when the app stops responding.
3. Click the name. The App panel opens for that app. When it is responding, the action is called Quit. When it stops responding, Quit becomes Force Quit.
4. Click Force Quit. The frozen app closes and its window leaves the screen.

Check the app's name before clicking. Quit and Force Quit in this panel do not work on an app run as administrator. File Explorer has no Force Quit here.

Turn on App panel

App panel is on for new installs and after an update. If clicking the app's name opens nothing, check its switch.

1. Open Glassline Settings. Right-click the menu bar and choose Glassline Settings.
2. Choose Menu Bar. Turn on App panel, then click the app's name again to open its controls.

The same panel has the app's windows and its own sound controls. For Keep on Top, see how to keep a window always on top.

Glassline's design is its own, made for Windows 11. Glassline has no connection to Apple.