Close All Running Windows Applications with One Click
Posted on April 13, 2010 at 5:07 am
If you run a lot of programs at once, there may be times when you want to close all of them quickly. Close All is a small utility that lets you close all your running applications with just one click.
Download Close All from http://www.ntwind.com/software/utilities/close-all.html.
Installing Close All
Close All does not require installation. Extract the downloaded zip file. To make Close All easily accessible when running several programs, drag the CloseAll.exe file to the Start menu icon. This pins the program to the Start menu automatically.
If you are using Windows 7, you can also drag CloseAll.exe to the Taskbar to pin it there.
To close all running programs, all you have to do is click on the shortcut for Close All that you created.
NOTE: If there are multiple instances of one program open, all instances will be closed.
Advanced Options
You can prevent certain applications from being close by Close All by adding an exclusion list to the CloseAll.exe command line for the shortcut on the Start menu.
Open the Start menu and right-click on the Close All Windows item. Select Properties from the pop-up menu.
The Close All Properties dialog box displays. On the Shortcut tab, add the following line to the end of the Target line:
-x=”app-to-exclude.exe”
where “app-to-exclude.exe” is the name of the application you don’t want Close All to close, such as explorer.exe.
To exclude multiple programs, separate the .exe filenames with a “|” (pipe), for example:
-x=”explorer.exe|firefox.exe”
Click Apply and then click OK to save the shortcut properties.
If you are using Windows 7 and you pinned the Close All program to the Taskbar earlier, that icon will close all the programs, including the ones you excluded on the Start menu shortcut.
To make the pinned Close All shortcut on the Taskbar behave the same way as the pinned Close All shortcut on the Start menu, first unpin the Close All shortcut from the Taskbar.
Click the Start menu, right-click on the Close All Windows item and select Pin to Taskbar from the pop-up menu.
The Close All shortcut is pinned to the Taskbar based on the pinned shortcut on the Start menu.
NOTE: If you change the exclusion list on the Close All shortcut on the Start menu, and you still want the Close All shortcut pinned to the Taskbar to behave the same way, you must unpin the Taskbar icon for Close All and re-pin the shortcut from the Start menu again.
Creating Multiple Custom Close All Shortcuts
You can create multiple shortcuts to Close All and assign a different or no exclusion list to each one. For example, if you sometimes want to close all programs except Windows Explorer and sometimes all programs, you can create two shortcuts, named differently, and customize the exclusion list of one of them.
NOTE: If you want more than one shortcut to Close All, you must create the shortcuts on the desktop. You cannot pin the same program to the Start menu or the Taskbar more than once.
If you have a lot of program windows open, use the Show Desktop function to minimize all the programs providing access to your Close All shortcuts. If you are using Windows 7, the Show Desktop functionality is available in the lower, right corner of the desktop.
This is a handy utility if you tend to run a lot of programs at once and sometimes need to either close all of them to get a fresh start, or close all of them to shut down your computer.
by Lori Kaufman
» Filed Under Free Software Downloads
Related Posts
- Get the Most Out of Your Taskbar in Windows 7
- Create Keyboard Shortcuts to Open Programs
- Create Keyboard Hotkeys in Windows
- How to customize the Windows XP Start Menu
- Start in Private Browsing Mode in Chrome, Firefox, IE 8, and Opera by Default
thanks for sharing this app.. definitely will try it out.
Thanks man! That’s a really nifty tool for Windows. I sometimes run 10+ programs on my PC and it’s annoying to have to close them all individually!