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Clear out the stuff you've started up yourself. Don't worry about programs Windows ran when you booted up.
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

What Windows means when it tells you to shut down running programs


June 25, 2000

This free utility can close all non-essential programs at once.

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2000, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Installed any programs on your Windows PC lately? If so, I bet you've been bitten by the "shutdown bug."
   It's caused by a strange message. I'd guess most people who see it take it literally, and when they do that they just end up doing the wrong thing.
   Let me explain.
   Windows usually tells you to "shut down all running programs" when you're about to install a new program. "All running programs" should only mean one thing, right? The word "all" is pretty clear.
   But that's not what it means.
   This message is misleading. You don't have to shut down "all running programs" -- and, in fact, you couldn't do it if you tried.
   Windows can't run without a few vital programs it depends on for basic functions. I'll tell you which ones they are so you don't take Microsoft's advice literally. I'll also tell you how to shut down any program easily.
   But first I want to tell you why Windows tells you to shut down other programs. No other modern operating system requires this step, so the reason has to do with a major problem with Windows itself. As Windows users, we're all so used to this failing that we probably all think it's normal.
   Be assured that it's not. It's a clear example of how fragile Windows is.
   Windows is inherently unstable. Incredible as it may seem, this means Windows can mess up its own installations. Windows can't control what programs are doing. (In this sense, it's not an "operating" system, as I have pointed out before.)
   As a result, Windows can't keep the program you're installing from wrecking the files used by a previously installed program. It also means, as you can imagine, that Windows can't keep your previously installed programs from messing up the new one as soon as they get a chance to run. (It also means Windows can't even keep programs from messing up the files Windows itself needs.)
   So when you install new software on a Windows PC, you have to keep other programs out of the way.
   By "other programs," I don't mean anything that is running. This is the mistake many users make. After all, the message on your screen says "running programs." It's a mistake to take this message literally. (No jokes, please. Microsoft requires you to click the "Start" button to stop the computer, and it has a setting called "Always On" in its power-management system that turns your PC off after a few hours. So it's not surprising, nor is it funny, that Microsoft also tells you to shut down "all running programs" when it actually means something else.)
   What Microsoft really means is this: Clear out the stuff you've started up yourself. Don't worry about programs Windows ran when you booted up.
   In other words, close down Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator, if you've been running a Web browser. Shut down your e-mail software. Exit from your word processor. Close America Online's software. That kind of thing.
   The rule is very simple: If YOU ran the program, you should shut it down. If Windows ran it when it booted up, leave it alone.
   This is not the advice you get from the guy down the hall, right? He says all you need to do is press Ctrl-Alt-Del -- those three keys at the same time -- and follow the advice on the screen for shutting them down.
   Hogwash. Just exit from the programs you've started up.
   In fact, double hogwash. The list that pops up when you press Ctrl-Alt-Del is a Bad News Zone. It's there for emergencies, not for program installations. Windows has no way of telling you that some of the programs that show up in that list are in the Do Not Touch category.
   Such as Explorer. Don't shut it down. If you do, Windows croaks and restarts itself with half its brain missing.
   And Systray. Don't close it. If you do, you lose the System Tray, where the clock is.
   Others are Don't-Touch-Me programs, too. Every Windows installation might have a different set, so I can't tell you specifically what you'll see in addition to Explorer and Systray. Be careful, make notes if you're not sure of everything you're doing, and make sure you know how to put programs back into the startup sequence.
   Shutting down programs is easy. It's so easy, in fact, that a lot of people forget how simple it is and go to a lot of trouble when they don't have to.
   To shut down a program, use the "File" menu in the program to shut it down. You should see a menu item called "Exit" in the "File" menu.
   You can also do the same thing by clicking the "Close" button at the upper right of the main program window. But listen up. This might not do what you think it does. So if clicking the "Close" button doesn't work right, use the menu method instead.
   (In case you think I'm nuts, pay attention. Clicking the "Close" button might not work if that "Close" button is the button to close a WINDOW within the program, not the program itself. The interface that Microsoft created for Windows is badly flawed in this way, and Microsoft knows it. It's been trying to get everyone to stop making programs that use multiple windows with their own "Close" buttons. But even its own software still has that problem, as anyone who uses Microsoft Word knows. So be sure you click the button on the main program window, not the button on the document window.)
   What about programs that don't give you an ovbious way to shut them down? If you can't find a "Close" button (if if that button doesn't seem to work) and if there's no "Exit" option at all, do this: Press the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys all at once and find the program in the window that appears on the screen. Click it once and then choose "End Task."