How to force Windows to start downloading the Windows 10 update files

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Windows 10 is here! Well, it’s here for a lot of people, but many of us still cannot download it until Microsoft says it’s OK (unless you want to do it manually).

Windows 10

You see, Microsoft plans to release Windows 10 in waves. That means even if your computer is ready, you won’t necessarily be able to download Windows 10 right away. Waiting, however, is for suckers.

Even if the Windows 10 install app still says it will “notify you when ready,” you can force Windows 7 or Windows 8 to start downloading the Windows 10 files (thanks to Reddit’s Windows 10 subreddit for helping us figure this out). We’ve laid out the instructions with screenshots to guide you through it.

First, navigate to “C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download” (you may need to replace C: with a different drive letter if you installed Windows elsewhere) and delete all the files there. This will give Windows Update a clean slate.

Open Windows Update by hitting the Windows key, typing “Windows Update” and clicking on it.

Open up the command prompt by hitting the Windows key and typing in cmd. Don’t hit enter. Right click and choose “Run as administrator.”

Type (but do not enter yet) “wuauclt.exe /updatenow” — this is the command to force Windows Update to check for updates.

Back in the Windows Update window, click “Check for updates” on the left hand side. It should say “Checking for updates…”

While this is happening, switch back to the command prompt and enter the command you already typed in.

You should now see Windows Update say that it is downloading Windows 10. Before you actually install it though, back everything up and make sure you’re ready.

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How do I force programs to open on top in Windows 7?

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Go to the Microsoft Power Toys website (see link in Resources below) and download tweakui.exe.

Double click on tweakui.exe to run it and install Tweak UI.

Run Tweak UI from the «Start» menu once installation is complete.

Double-click on «General» in the left column to expand the list of general options. Click on «Focus» in the expanded list.

Uncheck the box next to «Prevent programs from stealing focus.»

Click the «OK» button to accept the changes and close the utility.

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According to the Windows 7 Compatibility Center Tweak UI 2.0 is not compatible with Windows 7.

If you do a search on Internet there are several utilities that will work with Windows 7 and keep applications/programs always on top when opening.
There is not an built-in program in Windows 7 that I am aware of to keep programs on top.

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My problem is related, but not identical. I would like have «Save As» windows open on top.

We often create pdf files that ask for a save path. We recently upgraded from XP. Now Windows 7 (64-bit) the «Save As» window opens underneath. I have to track it down to find it. It seems a «Save As» window should automatically have top-level priority.

I occasionally encounter this problem with error notification windows (most recently on MS Word 2010 on a «that file is already open» message. I didn’t even know Word was open because it had opened a notification window with a questions on the bottom and had not yet displayed an icon in the Taskbar. I would think those kind of notifications should also have top-level priority.

Windows Forces Program To Open In A Small Window

When I open a specific program (Protools, an audio editing program) something forces the program into a smaller window when it should be full screen:

You can see the top right of the program window shows the small window option, as if the computer currently thinks it is maximized and is giving you the option to minimize it. To make the program full screen I have to click that once and the computer will now think the window is small (even though it already was) and then I have to click it again to make it full screen.

Now I did find a work around for this by right clicking the program and going to properties -> compatibility -> change high DPI settings -> override high DPI scaling behavior performed by application. That will make the program open in full screen.

The only problem is when I do that then it messes up plugins within the program. When I open a plugin within Protools the plugin window will be too small and will block off access to parts of the plugin:

Ideally it should look like this:

What I need is a way to have both things at once, the program to open in full screen and the plugins to be sized correctly. I messed around a lot with the compatibility settings for protools and the plugin but couldn’t find a combination that would make this work. I think it would be easier to find the source of why the computer is forcing protools to open in a small window and fix that, rather than trying to layer on compatibility solutions to cover it up.

Thank you so much for any help you can provide. This stuff is so frustrating and that fact that there are people nice enough online to just try and help others with it is really amazing.

Version 2004 OS Build 19041.508

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Hi Adam. I’m Greg, an installation specialist, 10 years awarded Windows MVP, and Volunteer Moderator, here to help you.

Based on the results you report back I may have other suggestions if necessary. If you will wait to choose whether the problem is resolved, then I will continue to help until the problem is fixed.

___________________________________________________
Standard Disclaimer: There are links to non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the sites that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the sites before you decide to download and install it.

Windows MVP 2010-20

Over 100,000 helped in forums in 10 years
I do not quit for those who are polite and cooperative.
I will walk you through any steps and will not let you fail.

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Greg, thanks so much for the thorough response! It really amazes me that people are willing to work through a problem like this with a stranger; it is really nice.

Those links you’ve posted were great starting points. The first reddit link is actually a post I made earlier this year when I first encountered the small window problem. The Edit I posted in that thread fixes the small window problem but doesn’t fix this new plugin window problem that comes along with it. I’ve just discovered that second problem. The youtube link you posted is where I found the solution for my reddit post.

The links you provided for programs to download that resize windows is something I’ll try right now. I think one of them will probably work; the main issue I anticipate is efficiency. The main goal in trying to solve this problem is reducing my time spent resizing windows when I first open protools. If I have to additionally open another program for resizing windows ever time I open protools my concern is it will only take more time. But I will certainly try those now and see if they are a fix. In the meantime let me know if you have any more ideas. Thank you so much!

EDIT: Unfortunately none of those recommended programs worked. None of them latched onto the plugin window, I think because it is within protools. I could use them to resize protools when I have the high DPI on but none of the ones that worked had presets for programs so it would just be extra steps opening the program every time. Thank you for the suggestion though.

How to Force-Quit a Program in Windows

Here’s how to close a program in Windows that isn’t responding

Ever try to close a program in Windows but tapping or clicking on that big X doesn’t do the trick?

Sometimes you’ll get lucky and Windows will tell you that a program isn’t responding and give you some options to Close the program or End Now, or maybe even to Wait for the program to respond.

Other times all you get is a Not Responding message in the program’s title bar and a full-screen gray-out, making it really clear that the program is going nowhere fast.

Worst of all, some programs that freeze or lock up do so in a way that even your operating system can’t detect and inform you about, leaving you wondering if you have a problem with your mouse buttons or touchscreen.

The instructions in this article apply to Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista, and XP.

Regardless of what program won’t close, or what the specific situation is, there are several ways to «force quit» a program in Windows:

Though they might seem related, many of the methods for forcing a software program to close aren’t the same as unlocking a locked file. See our article What Is a Locked File? for more information on doing that.

Need to force-uninstall a program instead of just shut it down? IObit Uninstaller is the best software uninstaller for the job.

Try to Close the Program Using ALT + F4

The little known but very handy ALT + F4 keyboard shortcut performs the same, behind the scenes, program-closing magic that clicking or tapping that X in the top-right of a program window does.

Here’s how to do it:

Bring the program you want to quit to the foreground by tapping or clicking on it.

If you’re having trouble doing this, try ALT + TAB and progress through your open programs with the TAB key (keep ALT down) until you reach the program you want (then let go of both).

Press and hold one of the ALT keys.

While still holding the ALT key down, press F4 once.

Let go of both keys.

It’s super important that you do Step 1. If a different program or app is selected, that’s the program or app that’s in focus and will close. If no program is selected, Windows itself will shut down, although you’ll have a chance to cancel it before it happens (so don’t skip trying the ALT + F4 trick for fear of shutting off your computer).

It’s equally important to tap the ALT key just once. If you hold it down, then as each program closes, the next one that comes to focus will close down, too. This will keep happening until all your programs are shut down and, ultimately, you’ll be prompted to shut down Windows. So, only tap the ALT key once to exit the one app or program that won’t close.

Because ALT + F4 is identical to using the X to close an open program, this method of force-quitting a program is only helpful if the program in question is working to some degree, and it won’t work to close any other processes that this program «spawned» at any point since it started.

That said, knowing this force-quit method can be particularly helpful if the batteries in your wireless mouse have quit, your touchscreen or touchpad drivers are making your life really difficult right now, or some other mouse-like navigation isn’t working as it should.

Still, ALT + F4 takes just a second to try and is much easier to pull off than the more complicated ideas below, so we highly recommend you try it first, no matter what you think the source of the problem might be.

Use Task Manager to Force the Program to Quit

Assuming ALT + F4 didn’t do the trick, truly forcing an unresponsive program to quit—no matter what state the program is in—is best accomplished via Task Manager.

Open Task Manager using the CTRL + SHIFT + ESC keyboard shortcut.

If that doesn’t work or you don’t have access to your keyboard, right-click or tap-and-hold on the Desktop taskbar and choose Task Manager or Start Task Manager (depending on your version of Windows) from the pop-up menu that appears.

Next, you want to find the program or app that you want to close and get Task Manager to direct you to the actual process that supports it.

This sounds a bit hard, but it’s not. The exact details do differ depending on your version of Windows, though.

Windows 10 & 8: Find the program you want to force close in the Processes tab, listed in the Name column and probably under the Apps heading. Once found, right-click or tap-and-hold it and choose Go to details.

If you don’t see the Processes tab, Task Manager might not be opened in full view. Choose More details at the bottom of the Task Manager window.

Windows 7, Vista, & XP: Find the program you’re after in the Applications tab. Right-click it and then click Go To Process.

You may be tempted to simply End task directly from that pop-up menu, but don’t. While this might be perfectly fine for some programs, doing this «the long way» as we’re describing here is a much more effective way to force quit a program (more on this below).

Right-click or tap-and-hold the highlighted item you see and choose End process tree.

You should be in the Details tab if you’re using Windows 10 or Windows 8, or the Processes tab if you’re using Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP.

Click or tap End process tree in the warning that appears. In Windows 10, for example, this warning looks like this:

This is a good thing — it means that not only will this individual program you want to be closed actually close, it means Windows will also end any processes that that program started, which are probably also hung up but much harder to track down yourself.

Close Task Manager.

That’s it! The program should have closed immediately but it could take several seconds if there were lots of child processes connected to the frozen program or the program was using a lot of system memory.

See? Easy as pie. unless it didn’t work or you can’t get Task Manager to open. Here are a few more ideas if Task Manager didn’t do the trick:

Confuse the Program! (Prompting Windows to Step in and Help)

That’s probably not advice you’ve seen elsewhere, so let’s explain.

In some cases, you can actually give a problematic program a little nudge off the cliff, so to speak, pushing it into a full-blown frozen state, sending a message to Windows that it should probably be terminated.

To do this, do as many «things» as you can think to do in the program, even if they don’t do anything because the program is crashing. For example, click on menu items over and over, drag items around, open and close fields, try exiting half a dozen times—whatever you want, so long as you do them in the program you’re hoping to force quit.

Assuming this works, you’ll get a window with a [program name] is not responding heading, usually with options like Check for a solution and restart the program, Close the program, Wait for the program to respond, or End Now (in older versions of Windows).

Tap or click Close the program or End Now to do just that.

Execute the TASKKILL Command to. Kill the Task!

We have one last trick to force quit a program, but it’s an advanced one. A particular command in Windows, called taskkill, does just that—it kills the task you specify, completely from the command line.

This trick is great in one of those hopefully rare situations where some kind of malware has prevented your computer from working normally, you still have access to Command Prompt, and you know the filename of the program you want to «kill.»

Here’s how to do it:

Open Command Prompt. There’s usually no need for it to be elevated, and any method you use to get it open is fine.

A common method to open Command Prompt in all versions of Windows, even in Safe Mode, is via Run: open it with the WIN + R keyboard shortcut and then execute cmd.

Execute the taskkill command like this:

. replacing filename.exe with whatever filename the program you want to close is using. The /t option makes sure any child processes are closed as well, and the /f option forcefully terminates the process.

If in the very rare situation that you don’t know the filename, but do know the PID (process ID), you can execute taskkill like this instead:

. replacing, of course, processid with the actual PID of the program you want to force quit. A running program’s PID is most easily found in Task Manager.

The program or app that you force-quit via taskkill should end immediately and you should see one of these responses in Command Prompt: ​

If you get an ERROR response that says that a process was not found, check that the filename or PID you used with the taskkill command was entered correctly.

The first PID listed in the response is the PID for the program you’re closing and the second is usually for explorer.exe, the program that runs the Desktop, Start Menu, and other major user interface elements in Windows.

If even taskkill doesn’t work, you’re left with having to restart your computer, essentially a force-quit for every program running. including Windows itself, unfortunately.

How to Force-Quit Running Programs on Non-Windows Machines

Software programs and apps sometimes stop responding and won’t close on Apple, Linux, and other operating systems and devices, too. It’s certainly not a problem exclusive to Windows machines.

On a Mac, force quitting is best done from the Dock or via the Force Quit option from the Apple menu. You can also hit the Command + Option + Escape key combination to bring up a Force Quit Applications window.

In Linux, the xkill command is one really easy way to force quit a program. Open a terminal window, type it, and then click the open program to kill it. There’s more on this in our list of Linux Terminal Commands That Will Rock Your World.

In ChromeOS, open Task Manager using SHIFT + ESC and then select the program you want to terminate, followed by the End process button.

To force quit an app on iPad and iPhone devices, double-press the Home button, find the app you want to close, and then swipe it up as if you’re tossing it right off the device.

Android devices have a similar process: swipe up from the bottom of the screen and then swipe the unresponding app up even further, off the screen. Or, for some Android devices, tap the square multitasking button, find the app that’s not responding, and then toss it off the screen. left or right.