Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 3: Keyboard shortcut
• Method 2 of 3: Task Manager
• Method 3 of 3: Reboot your computer: Hard reboot
• Soft reboot
• Hardware reboot
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

Windows 7 computer stopped responding? You keep trying to fix it, but nothing happens? Follow the instructions in the article to get out of this mess and get your computer back up and running. To achieve a positive result in the shortest possible time, try different methods in the order in which they are presented below.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Keyboard shortcut

1. 1 Click on Alt+F4. Typically, this should be enough to close the browser and any open program.

Method 2 of 3: Task Manager

1. 1 Click on Ctrl+⇧ Shift+Escto open Task Manager.
   • Or press Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select "Task Manager".
2. 2 Select the program that is not responding. It should be highlighted.
   • If there are other frozen programs, hold down Ctrl+Click and click on them with the left mouse button. The actions you perform will affect all selected items and only them.
3. 3 Click on Remove task. The computer will try to close the selected program (s).

Method 3 of 3: Reboot your computer: Hard reboot

Soft reboot

1. 1 Click on ⊞ Win.
2. 2 Select "Restart".

Hardware reboot

1. 1 Hold down the power button until the computer turns off. In this case, the “power” LED will go out, and the fan will stop rotating.
   • Use this method only as a last resort, as it will result in the loss of all unsaved information in programs and files that were not closed properly.
2. 2 Wait at least 20 seconds.
3. 3 Turn on your computer again.
4. 4 Wait for the computer to turn on. Most likely, a warning message will appear on the screen stating that the computer was not shut down correctly.
5. 5 Click on ↵ Enterto clear the warning if it appears. After that, the computer boot should resume.

Tips

• If you wait a bit, the program might start responding again.

Warnings

• You will lose all changes to documents if you restart your computer without saving any open files in the process.
• When you try to perform a hard reset, there is a chance that your computer will have to check the integrity of every file on your hard drive. This process can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour.

What do you need

• Windows 7 computer with I / O devices