Automatically End Task of Hung application in Windows XP

The following registry hack allows for automatically killing a task if it becomes unresponding. This is a quite useful trick since every now and then some application does become un-responding.

Make sure to backup your registry before trying to edit the registry. Follow the procedure:

Start Registry Editor. (Start->run->"regedit")

• On the left, navigate to,

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

• Create a new DWORD entry or alter the value, named "AutoEndTasks" and set its value as 1.


• Create a new DWORD entry or alter the value, named "HungAppTimeout" and set its value as 1000.


• Create a new DWORD entry or alter the value, named "WaitToKillAppTimeout" and set its value as 1.


• Exit registry editor.

Now every time an application becomes un-resposnding it will automatically be killed.