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Category Archives: Windows

I closed Windows Explorer and now I can’t see my task bar: how do I get it back?

11 Jan

This was a question that arose for me the other day. I was trying to rename a file in the folder view of Windows Explorer and everything froze. I opened Task Manager (see my article on Task Manager if this is new to you) using control-alt-delete, selected Windows Explorer and clicked End Task. To my horror, what I now know is called the “Shell” – the explorer view but also the lower task bar and my desktop, the clock, the Windows button – all disappeared. How would I get it back?

windows explorer shell has disappeared

My poor sad monitor view with no desktop, Windows button, bottom task bar, clock, etc.

How do I restore a closed app using Task Manager?

Just as you can use Task Manager to close an app or piece of software that’s frozen, you can use it to restore, too.

Open Task Manager using the Start button or Control-Alt-Delete and click the File tab (note, this is Windows 10, so yours might look a bit different, but it will have the same features that we’re talking about here).

If you haven’t previously used Windows 10 Task Manager, you will need to expand it from the initial view:

small

Click More details and you’ll see the full view:

Task manager open new app

Select Run new task. You will then see this dialogue box:

task manager run new task

Type “Explorer” (or whatever else you can’t find) in the Open field and then press OK (Don’t worry about the admin privileges bit at the moment: you would know if you needed to use that).

And now all of the Windows Explorer Shell has reappeared:

Windows explorer shell has reappeared

In this article, I’ve shown you how to make Windows Explorer (or any other app or software you have made disappear) reappear when you’ve accidentally closed Windows Explorer and your desktop icons and task bar have disappeared.

Related posts on this blog

How to close down an unresponsive program using Task Manager

 
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Posted by on January 11, 2017 in Computers, Errors, Short cuts, Windows

 

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How to close an unresponsive program or app using Task Manager on your PC

05 Jan

In this article I’m going to explain the basic way to close a piece of software, app or program that is not responding or has frozen, using Task Manager. Images are from Windows 10 and do differ from previous versions, but they all have these particular features and functions. I’m writing this post in preparation for one on reopening programs using Task Manager, coming next week.

Why do I need to use Task Manager to close a program?

Sometimes, with the best will in the world. programs or apps freeze or stop working, and the little X in the top right-hand corner that you use to close it just will not work.

If this happens, you need to go to the central program which shows what is running on your computer to force the program to shut down. This is the Task Manager.

How do I open Task Manager?

You can use the Windows button or the search bar in Windows 10 to find Task Manager, but I and most people who use it use the keystroke combination control-alt-delete to bring it up. That means pressing and holding down the Control key, the Alt key and the Delete key at the same time.

You may then get a menu which offers you Task Manager.

Task Manager has a list of the open programs and also how much of the computer’s attention or memory they’re using up. It looks like this in Windows 10 when you open it

small

and you can End tasks from here, but then if you select More details you will see a list with more information (in older versions, you will get the more full list straight away and be able to click on CPU etc):

Task manager Windows 10

This shows you everything that’s open and how much memory etc. it’s using. Although there is a large amount of information here, we’re going to concentrate on closing a program that has got stuck and won’t let you close it in the normal way.

How do I close a frozen software application using Task Manager?

You can do this in two ways:

  1. Click on the program you wish to close and click the End task button:

close application using task manager

2. Sometimes, the End task button will read Re-start but you just want to end it. If this happens, or as an alternative, right-click on the application you’re concerned about and then choose End task:

right click to end task

You can then click the X in the top right-hand side of Task Manager to close it.

In this article, I’ve explained how to use Task Manager to close a program, software application or app which has frozen and won’t allow you to close it in the standard way.

 
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Posted by on January 5, 2017 in Computers, Windows