The easiest way to close any application in Windows is to click on the small cross located near the top-right corner of its window. This small cross used be of grey color in the Windows versions before Windows XP. But starting with Windows XP, this small cross has turned red in color – perhaps to show that it can close down the application window. Another quick way to close down any open window is to use the hotkey Alt+F4 which is quite popular among the keyboard junkies like myself. But both of these methods merely request an open window to close down nicely. If the window decides not to honor this request or it has spawned child processes that need to be closed down first, then both of these methods of closing down windows might not work, or may take some time to close the windows.
A sure way to forcefully terminate an application in Windows is to use the SuperF4 tool. It is a third party tool keeps running in the background and helps you force close any application. You can use the SuperF4 tool in two ways –
1. Force kill using the Ctrl+Alt+F4 hotkey
With this the force killing of any application is extremely easy. You have to make sure that the application that you want to terminate is in the focus. Since you are a keyboard hotkeys lover, you may want to use the Alt+Tab hotkey to bring the target application window to the focus first. Once the window is in the foreground, you can press the hotkey Ctrl+Alt+F4 and it will forcibly terminate it.
2. Force kill using the danger skull cursor
Skull cursor is specially designed for the people who despise the keyboard and lead their life by the law of the mouse. You have to right-click on the system tray icon for the SuperF4 and then choose xkill from the menu that shows up. This will turn your mouse cursor into a danger skull icon. Now whichever window you click on will be terminated forcibly.
In addition to these features, SuperF4 also has a TimerCheck function. This is useful to force-kill applications that have some sort of anti-keylogger protection built inside which may prevent SuperF4 from working properly. You can enable TimerCheck function as a workaround. This can be enabled through the system tray icon.
Conclusion: If you want to close down a window instantly by forcibly closing it and all of its child processes, you can use the SuperF4 tool. This tool can be used through the hotkey or through the mouse cursor.
You can download SuperF4 from https://stefansundin.github.io/superf4/.