The Windows 11 taskbar has a hidden 'End Task' feature, here's how to enable it

 End Task can be used when a program is unresponsive and allows the user to exit that program without having to restart Windows.

End Task is a necessary and frequently used feature, so Microsoft decided to put this feature directly into the taskbar on Windows 11, but is disabled by default and requires users to self-activate.

Until now, users had the option to 'Close Window' when right-clicking on a taskbar icon, but this would only close the specific program window associated with that icon. If the program is configured to minimize the system tray, it will still run in the background.

However, with the End Task option, Windows will terminate all running processes under the same name.

How to use End Task on the taskbar

When the " End Task " feature is enabled, you can right-click on the application icon on the taskbar and see the " End Task " option.

For programs that can launch multiple processes of the same name, such as when you open multiple Chrome or Edge browser windows, the context menu option will change to ' End all tasks '.

When selected, Windows will terminate all processes running under that name, such as chrome.exe.

When you select this option, the system will use Task Manager's task termination feature to terminate the process for that specific application. This allows you to close applications without opening Task Manager.

This feature is especially useful when a program is unresponsive, allowing you to quickly force process termination.

Microsoft has also modified the taskbar's end action logic to allow the feature to work smoothly even when the app crashes with a "not responding" dialog being displayed.

Steps to enable "End Task" on the taskbar

To enable or disable this feature, follow these steps:

1. Open the Settings app on your Windows 11 device.

2. Navigate to System => For developers .

3. Find the End Task option and switch the switch to On .

After enabling this setting, you can easily end a task by right-clicking the application icon on the taskbar and selecting " End Task ".

Lesley Montoya

Update 01 August 2024