No time to Restart?

[Anas]

Whenever Windows application gridlock occurs on my computer, programs start locking up themselves without further procedings. At that point of time, I normally use to restart Windows. But restarting takes a considerable amount of time to get back to my current program. Is there any other way to resolve this without restarting ?

[Calvin K]

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del
Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del opens a Windows Task Manager that shows the name and status of your current program....

There can be two possibilities: Running or Not Responding

If the status of the program is running, then that particular program is perfectly running without any error.

If the status of the program is Not Responding, then that particular program is affected with some problem and needs to Close.
To Close the program....Select the program in Windows Task Manager.
There is a option called End Program below. Click End Program.
That particular program will be ended/closed....

[jesse]

1. You can just actively kill the "SysTray"(System Tray) in Close Program.
   This sometimes flushes out the offending apps, but not always.
   
   
2. One way I like the most is something of a demo reboot. To choose Start >> Log Off {your computer's name} This flushes the System Tray and relaunches those applications. But, this option is only available if you are on a network.
   
   
3. By depressing and holding the Shift key while clicking the OK button on the "Shut Down Windows" dialog offers a marginal improvement in reboot speed.

[Solomon]

Pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del popups the Close Program box. If you know what exactly is causing a problem and you are used to Windows shorthand names for programs, then you may be able to cherry pick the offending program and click End Task to make it go away. Often an application that is in trouble will have its status as "Not Responding" after its name. Sometimes, after doing this you have to wait for sometime confirming dialog before the task will actually end.
Be careful not to press Ctrl-Alt-Del second time, or you'll force a restart.