Automatically Ending Hung Applications (All Windows)

Registry Guide for Windows
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Registry tweaks, tricks & hacks to optimize, enhance and secure Microsoft Windows.

Automatically Ending Hung Applications (All Windows)
Category: Home > Windows > Startup and Shutdown

This tweak can be easily applied using WinGuides Tweak Manager.
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When this tweak is enabled it will force Windows to shutdown immediately ending all tasks without attempting to safely close any applications that have hung.

Open your registry and find the key below.

Modify the value of 'AutoEndTasks' to equal '1' to automatically end tasks or '0' to prompt for action.

The default time-out before ending the task is defined by the value of 'WaitToKillAppTimeout' located in the same key, this value is in milliseconds (default = 20000 i.e. 20 seconds). You can therefore additionally change this value to speed the process up.

Restart Windows for the change to take effect.


(Default)	REG_SZ	(value not set)
AutoEndTasks	REG_SZ	"1"
WaitToKillAppTimeout	REG_SZ	"10000"


	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

Settings:

User Key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]
System Key: [HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop]
Name: AutoEndTasks
Type: REG_SZ (String Value)
Value: (0 = disabled, 1 = enabled)

Disclaimer: Modifying the registry can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. We cannot guarantee that problems resulting from modifications to the registry can be solved. Use the information provided at your own risk.

Last Modified: September 19, 2002

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