If you’re dealing with a game that’s frozen on Windows 10, you have a number of easy options that you can try before physically forcing a shutdown:
Alt + F4
If you hold down Alt and then press F4, the game might quit itself. It usually doesn’t work once a game has completely frozen, but it’s worth a try. If nothing happens right away, move on to the next step.
Ctrl + Alt + Delete
If you hold down Ctrl, then also hold down Alt, and then press Delete, it should open up the task manager. From here, you can quit the game that’s giving you trouble, or even restart your computer if you need to. Again, this should come up pretty quickly, and if it feels like nothing’s happening move on the next step.
Alt + Tab
If you hold down Alt and then hold down Tab, you can switch between open programs. From here, you can switch to a different program, and from there you should be able to close the game directly or through task manager (by using Ctrl + Alt + Delete, as described above. If that doesn’t work, move on to the next step.
Hold Down The Windows Button
One last thing you can try before physically forcing a shut down is holding down the Windows button (the one that looks like the Windows logo, which should be on the bottom left corner of your keyboard, near Ctrl, Alt, and the spacebar. Holding down the Windows button is kind of like Alt + Tab, but instead of taking you to a different program it will make the taskbar show up, even if you’re playing fullscreen. From there, you can either directly close the program or jump to another program to regain some control of your computer.
Nothing Working? Try A Force Shutdown
If none of the four steps listed above worked, you might have to resort to physically forcing a shut down. This can cause you to lose your work, and in extreme cases can cause permanent damage to your OS installation. In other words, don’t handle My Dpad responsible for any consequences that may happen if you do physically force a shutdown.
Anyways, all you have to do is hold down the power button until the computer turns off. Then, just wait at least 30 seconds or so before powering it back on and you should be fine. Some things might be wonky, but if you just fully boot back into your OS and then do a clean restart, everything should be fine.
I hope one of these methods worked, and that you didn’t have to physically force a shutdown. Happy gaming!
