How can windows task manager close frozen program which we cant by clicking on close button?
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Because Windows doesn’t use a Window Manager program like Unix/X does.
A window manager is a process that JUST controls the outer frames of the various windows on screen, not their inner content inside the windows. In a system with a window manager, the window manager process is in charge of things like moving windows, resizing windows, maximizing windows, and (*importantly*) closing windows.
What that means is that when you click the close button to close a program that’s not responding, that program does NOT have the right to say no, nor the right to ignore the request. Because it’s the Window Manager that does it, NOT the unresponsive program. The unresponding program might think it’s still on screen, but it’s not. And the window manager can force-kill it if it’s not reacting, just like the Task Manager does.
In Windows, that’s not the case. The little red X button is responded to BY the program in the window, and NOT by some outer 3rd-party program. So when that program is stuck, it doesn’t react to the little red X button. It doesn’t let you move the window, or minimize it, or maximize it, or resize it. it’s because those things are done by the program that is stuck and not paying attention.
So you have to send them an un-interruptable signal from a third-party outside process that forces the program to die. And that’s what the task manager does.
Clicking close on a program asks the program to nicely clean up what it’s doing and remove itself from memory (RAM).
If something happens and the program gets hung up on something, using task manager to force it closed is like asking security to grab the program and toss it onto the street, then going to where they were working and cleaning up.
Funny thing is, Windows’ kill task is much friendlier than Unix’s. Forcing a program closed in Unix is akin to murdering the program and throwing its things out onto the curbside.
Because Windows doesn’t use a Window Manager program like Unix/X does.
A window manager is a process that JUST controls the outer frames of the various windows on screen, not their inner content inside the windows. In a system with a window manager, the window manager process is in charge of things like moving windows, resizing windows, maximizing windows, and (*importantly*) closing windows.
What that means is that when you click the close button to close a program that’s not responding, that program does NOT have the right to say no, nor the right to ignore the request. Because it’s the Window Manager that does it, NOT the unresponsive program. The unresponding program might think it’s still on screen, but it’s not. And the window manager can force-kill it if it’s not reacting, just like the Task Manager does.
In Windows, that’s not the case. The little red X button is responded to BY the program in the window, and NOT by some outer 3rd-party program. So when that program is stuck, it doesn’t react to the little red X button. It doesn’t let you move the window, or minimize it, or maximize it, or resize it. it’s because those things are done by the program that is stuck and not paying attention.
So you have to send them an un-interruptable signal from a third-party outside process that forces the program to die. And that’s what the task manager does.
Hitting the close button tells the program to close. If it isn’t responding, the the close command never gets processed.
Using task manager to close the program tells the operating system to close the program. The OS has significantly more priority and power than the program does. As long as the OS itself is responding, it should be able to comply.
While the OS will be able to more reliably close, it should be avoided when not necessary because it is a “less graceful” close. In many programs you’d have some semblance of a progress save process prior to closing, and the OS basically just kills it regardless of save state (somewhat literally, the actual command the OS issues has _kill_ right in the name).
Clicking close on a program asks the program to nicely clean up what it’s doing and remove itself from memory (RAM).
If something happens and the program gets hung up on something, using task manager to force it closed is like asking security to grab the program and toss it onto the street, then going to where they were working and cleaning up.
Funny thing is, Windows’ kill task is much friendlier than Unix’s. Forcing a program closed in Unix is akin to murdering the program and throwing its things out onto the curbside.
Hitting the close button tells the program to close. If it isn’t responding, the the close command never gets processed.
Using task manager to close the program tells the operating system to close the program. The OS has significantly more priority and power than the program does. As long as the OS itself is responding, it should be able to comply.
While the OS will be able to more reliably close, it should be avoided when not necessary because it is a “less graceful” close. In many programs you’d have some semblance of a progress save process prior to closing, and the OS basically just kills it regardless of save state (somewhat literally, the actual command the OS issues has _kill_ right in the name).
When you click the close button, it starts a shutdown process where the program might clean up memory, save state, and other background tasks. If the program is frozen those can’t run, so it doesn’t close.
When you force close, the operating system is killing the process without regard for any shutdown processes.
That’s not 100% always accurate but you can think of it like that in an ELI5 sense.
Basically you have the app layer and the system layer. When you press buttons and click things in the app you’re interacting with the app that then has to pass requests on to the system. If it’s locked up, it can’t pass those requests on at all.
The task manager is dealing directly withthe system layer and it gives you power that you don’t normally have. If an app were a house of cards on a table, task manager is like the legs of the table. Knock one out, and the house of cards will definitely fall.
Not an ELI5 explanation, but would be probably be interesting for some of those reading this thread: the guy who wrote task manager before it was part of Windows has a YouTube channel where he talks about it’s history.
Not an ELI5 explanation, but would be probably be interesting for some of those reading this thread: the guy who wrote task manager before it was part of Windows has a YouTube channel where he talks about it’s history.
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