Start me up, shut me down



You are using a poorly written application, and it needs to be administratively terminated in order to regain control of your computer. Which of these methods can be used to launch the Task Manager?

A) Alt-Shift-Esc

B) Ctrl-Alt-Esc

C) Ctrl-Alt-Shift

D) Ctrl-Shift-Esc

E) Just bang on the keyboard until something happens


The answer: D) Ctrl-Shift-Esc

The keystroke of Ctrl-Shift-Esc will instantly launch the Task Manager. You can also right-click on the task bar and choose “Task Manager,” or you can hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and select the Task Manager.

Want to know more? Watch “Managing Tasks.”

If you’re trying to resolve a Windows issue, you may need to examine the real-time performance statistics of the operating system. In this video, you’ll learn how to use Windows Task Manager to view processes, examine resource usage, set priority on applications, and administratively terminate tasks.