5 Ways to Close All Running Programs in Windows 11 and 10

Clicking the X on a dozen open programs one by one before running an installer takes forever, and something always hides in the system tray and breaks the process anyway. Here are five ways to do it faster on Windows 10 and 11.

Fix #1: Multi-select apps in Task Manager

Task Manager’s Processes view lets you pick several apps at once and end them in one click. No extra software needed.

1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. If Task Manager opens in a compact single-column view, click More details.
2. On Windows 10, click the Processes tab. On Windows 11, select Processes from the left sidebar.
3. Under Apps, click the first program you want to close.
4. Hold Ctrl and click each additional program to add it to the selection.
5. Click End task, which is at the bottom-right on Windows 10, or in the top toolbar on Windows 11.

End task doesn’t prompt you to save. Get your files saved before you start.

Fix #2: Sign out or restart for a completely clean state

If you want every app gone, including background processes with no visible window, signing out or restarting closes everything and prompts you to save unsaved work along the way.

To sign out:

1. Click Start.
2. Click your user account picture at the bottom of the Start menu.
3. Choose Sign out.

To restart:

1. Click Start.
2. Click the Power icon.
3. Choose Restart.

A restart makes the most sense when the installer is going to request a reboot anyway. You’re clearing everything and getting a fresh Windows session in one step.

Fix #3: Use CloseAll for one-click bulk closing

CloseAll is a small portable executable that lists every open program window and closes the ones you select, no installation required.

1. Download CloseAll from ntwind.com and run the executable.
2. CloseAll shows all running program windows, all checked by default.
3. Uncheck any app you want to keep open.
4. Click OK.

CloseAll sends each window the same close signal as clicking X yourself, so any app with unsaved data will still prompt you to save before it closes. It won’t touch background services or system tray processes. The one tradeoff: it doesn’t snapshot what was open, so you’ll reopen things manually when you’re done.

Fix #4: Force-close specific apps with taskkill

taskkill is built into Windows and terminates named processes from the command line in a single pass. If you always shut down the same group of apps before installs, it’s worth saving as a batch file.

1. Press Start, type cmd, right-click Command Prompt, and choose Run as administrator.
2. If you need to look up process names, run:

   tasklist

3. Close your target apps using their .exe names:

   taskkill /IM notepad.exe /IM winword.exe /IM excel.exe /F

/IM targets by process name; /F forces immediate termination. No save dialog.

To save this as a reusable batch file:

1. Open Notepad.
2. Add @echo off on the first line, then paste your taskkill command:

   @echo off
   taskkill /IM notepad.exe /IM winword.exe /IM excel.exe /F

3. Click File > Save As, set the file type to All Files, and save it as CloseMyApps.bat.
4. Double-click it whenever you need it.

/F skips every save dialog. Save your work before you run this.

Fix #5: Close all windowed apps with a PowerShell one-liner

This command closes every process with a visible window while leaving Explorer intact. It’s as close to “close everything” as you can get without ending your session.

1. Press Start, type powershell, right-click Windows PowerShell or Terminal, and choose Run as administrator.
2. Paste and run:

   Get-Process | Where-Object { $_.MainWindowTitle -ne "" -and $_.ProcessName -ne "explorer" } | Stop-Process -Force

-Force terminates immediately. No save prompts; unsaved work is gone the moment you press Enter. Remove it for a softer attempt, though some apps ignore graceful close requests and stay open regardless.

To exclude specific processes, such as a VPN client, OneDrive, or anything else you need running:

$exclude = "explorer", "OneDrive", "yourapp"
Get-Process |
  Where-Object {
    $_.MainWindowTitle -ne "" -and
    $exclude -notcontains $_.ProcessName
  } |
  Stop-Process

Replace "yourapp" with the actual process name from tasklist.

What About SmartClose?

SmartClose is an older utility that closes programs and creates a session snapshot you can restore later. It runs on Windows 10 and 11, but development has stalled, and session restore is unreliable on modern Windows. It can silently fail to reopen several programs per session, with no explanation. CloseAll (Fix #3) is a more dependable choice for the same job.

When an App Won’t Close

A few reasons something might stay open after using the methods above:

• No visible window: CloseAll and the PowerShell method only target processes with an open window. Apps running only in the system tray or as background services stay untouched. Close those manually in Task Manager.
• Admin privileges: An app running as administrator won’t respond to a closing tool or script running at a standard level. Make sure you’ve launched your Command Prompt or PowerShell with Run as administrator.
• Frozen process: A hung app ignores close signals entirely. Select it in Task Manager and click End task to force-kill it.

Conclusion

Fix #2 (sign out or restart) is the most thorough option. It closes every process, handles edge cases automatically, and does double duty when the installer is requesting a reboot anyway. For staying logged in while clearing the deck, CloseAll (Fix #3) is a solid choice: fast, portable, and careful enough not to blow up anything critical. The PowerShell one-liner (Fix #5) covers the most ground, but save everything first. It won’t ask.