How to force quit a task on a Chromebook

Chromebook Force Quit Hero
Chromebook Force Quit Hero (Image credit: Chris Wedel/Android Central)

For everything that Chromebooks have going for them, every now and then an app can hang up and cause some frustration. Thankfully, there's a relatively simple way to find out which app or task is the culprit behind the slowdown. Let's get into the steps you can take to get your Chromebook back smoothly humming along.

How to force quit a task on a Chromebook

  1. If Chrome isn't already open, open Chrome.
  2. Click on the menu button, the three dots in the upper right-hand corner.
  3. Put your cursor on more tools. Source: Chris Wedel/Android Central

  1. The shortcut to get to this menu is pressing the Search and Esc keys at the same time.
  2. From here you can see the list of running processes, and generally, the one taking up the most memory or CPU is the problem. Select that app or task.
  3. Click on end process to shut the problem down.

Now you can reopen the app that was causing the issues. If it's still acting up, you may need to uninstall then reinstall it. Hopefully, the need to go into the task manager to force quit an app or task is rare, but if you need to, you now have the tools to take down those issues.

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Chris Wedel
Smart Home Writer
Chris Wedel is a fan of all things tech and gadgets. Living in rural Kansas with his wife and two young boys makes finding ways to get and stay online tricky. By utilizing his years of experience with the tech and mobile communications industries — success is assured. When not conquering connectivity challenges and testing new gadgets, he enjoys cruising a gravel road in his UTV with some good tunes.