A program that has stopped responding

Close a frozen program by hand, without turning the whole machine off, and know what it did and did not cost you.

The window goes pale, the words stop changing, and a little ring turns wherever you put the mouse. That is one program having a moment. The computer underneath it is perfectly well.

Windows even puts it in writing: Not responding. That phrase is the computer telling on the program — it means the machine asked the program a question and the program has not answered. It is a complaint about the software, made by the machine, on your behalf.

Phones handle this differently, and more quietly. When an app stops answering, the phone closes it for you and drops you back at the home screen.

That sudden return to the home screen is not something you did. It is the phone deciding an app had stopped listening and clearing it away, which is the same job you did by hand on the computer.

Key points

Wait half a minute before doing anything, because half of them recover
Open Task Manager with Ctrl, Alt and Delete and close one program without touching the others
Look for the recovered copy when you reopen, instead of assuming the work is gone
Flick a stuck app away on a phone, and leave the rest where they are

What to remember

Ctrl, Alt and Delete always answer, even when everything on top of them has stopped.
Reopen before you mourn. The recovered copy is offered in the first few seconds and then not mentioned again.

Try this

Press Ctrl and Shift and Escape together on your own computer. Task Manager opens. Read the list, notice everything on it is a name you recognize, and close it. Knowing what it looks like when nothing is wrong is what makes it useful when something is.

Practice: A program that has stopped responding. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.