Apps Close All Open Apps at Once in Windows 11


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This tutorial will show you how to close all open apps at once for your account in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Sometimes you may need or want to quickly close all open apps at once instead of one at a time without shutting down or restarting the computer.

This will forcefully close all open apps except File Explorer and Registry Editor, so be sure to save anything open in an app before using a command below.



Contents

  • Option One: Close All Open Apps at Once in Command Prompt
  • Option Two: Close All Open Apps at Once in PowerShell





Option One

Close All Open Apps at Once in Command Prompt


1 Open Windows Terminal, and select Command Prompt.

2 Copy and paste the command below into the Command Prompt, and press Enter.

If you like, you can also create a shortcut using this command to run from.


PowerShell -Command "Get-Process |? {$_.MainWindowTitle -ne \"\" -and $_.Id -ne $PID -and $_.ProcessName -ne \"explorer\"} | Stop-Process -Force"

3 All apps except File Explorer and Registry Editor will now be forcefully closed.




Option Two

Close All Open Apps at Once in PowerShell


1 Open Windows Terminal, and select Windows PowerShell.

2 Copy and paste the command below into PowerShell, and press Enter.

Get-Process |? {$_.MainWindowTitle -ne "" -and $_.Id -ne $PID -and $_.ProcessName -ne "explorer"} | Stop-Process -Force

3 All apps except File Explorer and Registry Editor will now be forcefully closed.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


 

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Have I missed something?

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 Enterprise
    Computer type
    Laptop
    CPU
    i7
    Hard Drives
    SSD

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
Hello @Brink , powershell command closes all apps and pc restarts in one minute.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Window 11 v24H2 Build 26085.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASSEMMBLED
    CPU
    Intel Pentium CPU G620@ 2.60 GHz
    Motherboard
    DAICHI
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba HDD 1 TB
    Keyboard
    Mechanical
    Mouse
    Mechanical
    Internet Speed
    700 kb/s
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE, CHROME
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
Hello @Brink , powershell command closes all apps and pc restarts in one minute.
Odd. The PowerShell command only ends all processes your account is able to including restarting the explorer process that causes the screen to flicker. It doesn't issue a restart command.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 Enterprise
    Computer type
    Laptop
    CPU
    i7
    Hard Drives
    SSD
Odd. The PowerShell command only ends all processes your account is able to including restarting the explorer process that causes the screen to flicker. It doesn't issue a restart command.
Thanks for your response. I tried powershell command on other copy of Windows 11Pro v 23H2 build 23631.2715 installed on other partition.
Screen goes blank and pc restarts in one minute.
Is syntax of powershell command ok in image attached herewith?
 

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  • IMG_20231129_211026.jpg
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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Window 11 v24H2 Build 26085.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASSEMMBLED
    CPU
    Intel Pentium CPU G620@ 2.60 GHz
    Motherboard
    DAICHI
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba HDD 1 TB
    Keyboard
    Mechanical
    Mouse
    Mechanical
    Internet Speed
    700 kb/s
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE, CHROME
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
Thanks for your response. I tried powershell command on other copy of Windows 11Pro v 23H2 build 23631.2715 installed on other partition.
Screen goes blank and pc restarts in one minute.
I can't reproduce the PC restarting after using the PowerShell command on any of my systems.

It'll be interesting to hear if any others are experiencing this.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
I can't reproduce the PC restarting after using the PowerShell command on any of my systems.

It'll be interesting to hear if any others are experiencing this.
Thanks @Brink.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Window 11 v24H2 Build 26085.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASSEMMBLED
    CPU
    Intel Pentium CPU G620@ 2.60 GHz
    Motherboard
    DAICHI
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba HDD 1 TB
    Keyboard
    Mechanical
    Mouse
    Mechanical
    Internet Speed
    700 kb/s
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE, CHROME
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
By chance, are you running the command in "Windows Terminal (Admin)" instead of "Windows Terminal" without "Run as administrator" (elevated).

If so, that could cause what you are seeing.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
By chance, are you running the command in "Windows Terminal (Admin)" instead of "Windows Terminal" without "Run as administrator" (elevated).

If so, that could cause what you are seeing.
Windows Terminal (Run as administrator)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Window 11 v24H2 Build 26085.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASSEMMBLED
    CPU
    Intel Pentium CPU G620@ 2.60 GHz
    Motherboard
    DAICHI
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba HDD 1 TB
    Keyboard
    Mechanical
    Mouse
    Mechanical
    Internet Speed
    700 kb/s
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE, CHROME
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
Windows Terminal (Run as administrator)
Please go ahead and test in normal unelevated "Windows Terminal" without "Run as administrator" to see if works as outlined in the tutorial afterwards.

 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
I found a neat little Utility that does exactly what y'all are discussing here.

It's simply called "Close All". I put a shortcut to that program in my Task Bar, for a one-click shutdown of all open apps.

The version I've included here, is the 64 bit version, and works great in Windows 10/Pro/64 and Windows 11/Pro/64.
I've not tried it on any other versions of Windows.
I hope it works as well for you as it has for me.
Happy Holidays,
TM :cool:
 

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My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win-11/Pro/64, Optimum 11 V5, 23H2 22631.3374
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home Made w/Gigabyte mobo/DX-10
    CPU
    AMD FX 6350 Six Core
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte, DX-10, GA-78LMT-USB3
    Memory
    Crucial, 16 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDEA GeForce 210, 1GB DDR3 Ram.
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" Acer
    Screen Resolution
    1280x800
    Hard Drives
    Crucial SSD 500GB, SanDisk 126GB SSD, Toshiba 1TB HD
    PSU
    EVGA 500 W.
    Case
    Pac Man, Mid Tower
    Cooling
    AMD/OEM
    Keyboard
    101 key, Backlit/ Mechanical Switches/
    Mouse
    Logitech USB Wireless M310
    Internet Speed
    Hughes Net speed varies with the weather
    Browser
    Firefox 64x
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, Super Anti Spyware
    Other Info
    Given to me as DEAD, and irreparable.
    Rebuilt with Gigabyte mobo, AMD cpu, 16GB ram and 500GB Crucial SSD.
Please go ahead and test in normal unelevated "Windows Terminal" without "Run as administrator" to see if works as outlined in the tutorial afterwards.

Thanks again @Brink for your attention towards my questions.
I tried as you suggested.
I right click Start button, then left click on Terminal to open Windows Powershell without run as administrator. Then I typed the command
Get-Process | Stop-Process -Force and pressed enter.
This closed all open tabs and apps running on my pc which I kept opened to test this said command.
No restart of my pc took place.
Your suggestion worked for me.
Thanks again @Brink .
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Window 11 v24H2 Build 26085.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASSEMMBLED
    CPU
    Intel Pentium CPU G620@ 2.60 GHz
    Motherboard
    DAICHI
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Onboard
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    LG
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Toshiba HDD 1 TB
    Keyboard
    Mechanical
    Mouse
    Mechanical
    Internet Speed
    700 kb/s
    Browser
    Microsoft EDGE, CHROME
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
Thanks again @Brink for your attention towards my questions.
I tried as you suggested.
I right click Start button, then left click on Terminal to open Windows Powershell without run as administrator. Then I typed the command
Get-Process | Stop-Process -Force and pressed enter.
This closed all open tabs and apps running on my pc which I kept opened to test this said command.
No restart of my pc took place.
Your suggestion worked for me.
Thanks again @Brink .
Great news. I'm glad we found what was causing it. :party:
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
ALT+F4 or possibly, ALT+Fn+F4 is pretty quick. You can hold down ALT and tap F4 to close each app in order.

If your partner walks in unexpectedly while you are shopping for presents, ALT+SPACEBAR, N is a very quick way to minimise the active window.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Pro 23H2 OS build 22631.3374
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Swift SF114-34
    CPU
    Pentium Silver N6000 1.10GHz
    Memory
    4GB
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Cooling
    fanless
    Internet Speed
    13Mbps
    Browser
    Brave, Edge or Firefox
    Antivirus
    Webroot Secure Anywhere
    Other Info
    System 3

    ASUS T100TA Transformer
    Processor Intel Atom Z3740 @ 1.33GHz
    Installed RAM 2.00 GB (1.89 GB usable)
    System type 32-bit operating system, x64-based processor

    Edition Windows 10 Home
    Version 22H2 build 19045.3570
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.2506
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Mini 210-1090NR PC (bought in late 2009!)
    CPU
    Atom N450 1.66GHz
    Memory
    2GB
There are multiple issues that can potentially occur with this. First off, killing the explorer process in this manner is not recommended in a lot of situations. E.g., when there are open File Explorer windows that haven't yet completed their operations, force-killing them could have unwanted consequences. A safer way to close all open File Explorer windows under such circumstances would be to run the following command:
Powershell:
(New-Object -ComObject Shell.Application).Windows() |% {$_.Quit()}
As an additional bonus, the above command does not exhibit the flashing behavior, nor does it introduce the potential problem of some notification icons failing to reload after the explorer process is restarted, as both the desktop and the taskbar are kept alive, i.e. as a result of not killing the explorer process.

Secondly, processes are not to be confused with apps. When force-killing apps in bulk, you generally want to avoid killing those specific processes the main window title of which equals the empty string (although there can be several exceptions to this). For reasons that should be completely obvious, you certainly don't want the command to kill the powershell process that is actually performing the command itself...
Powershell:
(Get-Process |? {$_.MainWindowTitle -ne "" -and $_.Id -ne $PID -and $_.ProcessName -ne "explorer"} | Stop-Process -Force

Finally, force-killing an app can cause all sorts of side effects that may or may not be acceptable to you. E.g., open file handles might not be closed, zombie process handles might occur and unused data might still be left over in standby memory. A safer way to close an app would be to send the WM_CLOSE message to it. Even so, a complex app might have multiple child components each one of which has its own main window title so, there isn't always an easy way to tell which process you need to send the message to. In short, there is no direct way to close all apps. That is, excepting only if you can live with potential side effects or you can prevent side effects whenever you need/want to prevent them (or they simply don't occur for how you use the command). Else, to close all apps you'd either need to shut down Windows or need to log off from the account.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus TUF Gaming (2024)
    CPU
    i7 13650HX
    Memory
    16GB DDR5
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Cooling
    2× Arc Flow Fans, 4× exhaust vents, 5× heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
  • Operating System
    11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Medion S15450
    CPU
    i5 1135G7
    Memory
    16GB DDR4
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe
    Sound Card
    Eastern Electric MiniMax DAC Supreme; Emotiva UMC-200; Astell & Kern AK240
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Sony Bravia XR-55X90J
    Screen Resolution
    3840×2160
    Hard Drives
    2TB SSD internal
    37TB external
    PSU
    Li-ion
    Mouse
    Logitech G402
    Keyboard
    Logitech K800
    Internet Speed
    20Mbit/s up, 250Mbit/s down
    Browser
    FF
@hdmi

Is shutdown /s /t0 relatively safe to use? It's never caused me any obvious problem. Thanks.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    11 Pro 23H2 OS build 22631.3374
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Swift SF114-34
    CPU
    Pentium Silver N6000 1.10GHz
    Memory
    4GB
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    SSD
    Cooling
    fanless
    Internet Speed
    13Mbps
    Browser
    Brave, Edge or Firefox
    Antivirus
    Webroot Secure Anywhere
    Other Info
    System 3

    ASUS T100TA Transformer
    Processor Intel Atom Z3740 @ 1.33GHz
    Installed RAM 2.00 GB (1.89 GB usable)
    System type 32-bit operating system, x64-based processor

    Edition Windows 10 Home
    Version 22H2 build 19045.3570
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro 23H2 22631.2506
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Mini 210-1090NR PC (bought in late 2009!)
    CPU
    Atom N450 1.66GHz
    Memory
    2GB
Powershell:
Get-Process |? {$_.MainWindowTitle -ne "" -and $_.Id -ne $PID -and $_.ProcessName -ne "explorer"} | Stop-Process -Force

Thank you. This is much cleaner. :shawn:
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom self build
    CPU
    Intel i7-8700K 5 GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS ROG Maximus XI Formula Z390
    Memory
    64 GB (4x16GB) G.SKILL TridentZ RGB DDR4 3600 MHz (F4-3600C18D-32GTZR)
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS ROG-STRIX-GTX1080TI-O11G-GAMING (11GB GDDR5X)
    Sound Card
    Integrated Digital Audio (S/PDIF)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung Odyssey G75 27"
    Screen Resolution
    2560x1440
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    4TB Samsung 990 PRO M.2,
    8TB WD MyCloudEX2Ultra NAS
    PSU
    Seasonic Prime Titanium 850W
    Case
    Thermaltake Core P3 wall mounted
    Cooling
    Corsair Hydro H115i
    Keyboard
    Logitech wireless K800
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1 Gbps Download and 35 Mbps Upload
    Browser
    Google Chrome
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender and Malwarebytes Premium
    Other Info
    Logitech Z625 speaker system,
    Logitech BRIO 4K Pro webcam,
    HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP M477fdn,
    APC SMART-UPS RT 1000 XL - SURT1000XLI,
    Galaxy S23 Plus phone
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP Spectre x360 2in1 14-eu0098nr (2024)
    CPU
    Intel Core Ultra 7 155H 4.8 GHz
    Memory
    16 GB LPDDR5x-7467 MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    Integrated Intel Arc
    Sound Card
    Poly Studio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    14" 2.8K OLED multitouch
    Screen Resolution
    2880 x 1800
    Hard Drives
    2 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD
    Internet Speed
    Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200 (2x2) and Bluetooth 5.4
    Browser
    Chrome and Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes Premium

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