Ctrl + Alt + Delete = Powerless

[J T]

Years ago, I used to be able to get out of just about any bind with my computer by hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete and going to task manager. But in the newer versions of Windows, it seems that this once useful power tool has been reduced to having all the strength of kittens in mittens. Every time a program crashes and stalls my computer, I depend on Ctrl+Alt+Delete to get out of the problem, but now it doesn't work either. I can't start task manager with so much as a stalled web browser tab not opening. What ever happened to the mighty Ctrl+Alt+Delete of old? Does anyone know?

[AznKhmerBoi]

yea i second that, now adays i just hold the power button to shut off the problem and my frustration.

[isiolia]

Are you using a PS/2 keyboard or USB? PS/2 has the advantage of actually doing a hardware interrupt for input, whereas USB is polled. Might make a difference.

[CRTGAMER]

CTRL ALT DEL should work in Windows 7. It takes you a menu of four or five choices, one on them is the Task Manager. Maybe your PC has Spyware preventing you from doing this or not signed in as Administrator?

[J T]

CTRL ALT DEL should work in Windows 7. It takes you a menu of four or five choices, one on them is the Task Manager. Maybe your PC has Spyware preventing you from doing this or not signed in as Administrator?

Yes, I can get to that screen and choose task manager when my computer is running normally. My problem is that whenever I encounter a problem and actually need to go to task manager to shut down the problem, the whole thing is stalled and it takes forever to get task manager to open, or it won't open at all. It just seems like this wasn't the case in the past. I could always count on Ctrl+Alt+Delete to interrupt everything and wrangle back control over my PC by ending programs or processes that were causing it to hang.

As for keyboards, I use the keyboard on my laptop or a wireless USB device, neither of which give me better results.

[CRTGAMER]

CTRL ALT DEL should work in Windows 7. It takes you a menu of four or five choices, one on them is the Task Manager. Maybe your PC has Spyware preventing you from doing this or not signed in as Administrator?

Yes, I can get to that screen and choose task manager when my computer is running normally. My problem is that whenever I encounter a problem and actually need to go to task manager to shut down the problem, the whole thing is stalled and it takes forever to get task manager to open, or it won't open at all. It just seems like this wasn't the case in the past. I could always count on Ctrl+Alt+Delete to interrupt everything and wrangle back control over my PC by ending programs or processes that were causing it to hang.

As for keyboards, I use the keyboard on my laptop or a wireless USB device, neither of which give me better results.

That's a pain, the older windows would let Task Manager take right over. Wait till Win 8 comes out with all its bloat. I wonder if there is a way to go directly to task manager?

Damn Java Scripting
The lockup thing happens to my Mac when I go to a heavy scripted site, I can't just closed the one tab in my browser. I end up having to to do a force quit and wait till the glowing ball gets done.

[fastbilly1]

CTRL+Shift+Escape goes straight to task manager, so it is faster when things get bogged down. And you can hit it one handed.

[isiolia]

Wait till Win 8 comes out with all its bloat.

Technically, less resource intensive than Win7. Keyboard shortcuts still work. Task Manager itself is redesigned as well.
Not that I particularly like what I've used of it thus far...but I haven't tried it on a tablet.

[fastbilly1]

Wait till Win 8 comes out with all its bloat.

Technically, less resource intensive than Win7. Keyboard shortcuts still work. Task Manager itself is redesigned as well.
Not that I particularly like what I've used of it thus far...but I haven't tried it on a tablet.

It just feels like streamlined 7 right now, let me know your opinion of it on a tablet. I am very curious to how it works on one. 8 might inspire me to buy a large touchscreen for my pc.

[Hatta]

Task manager was never that good anway. Many are the times that I've called up task manager to kill a task, only to be told that the app is not responding, and asking if it should end now. Click "end now" and nothing happens. Is a Windows equivalent to 'kill -9 <pid>' really that hard to implement?