[Run][New Plugin] Allow to terminate the selected running process

[Just1n]

📝 'Ctrl + Enter' to terminate the selected running process

After listing the running processes, and pressing 'Ctrl + Enter' would terminate the selected one.

Originated from #5823

[crutkas]

so ctrl-enter has a lot of implications. it typically means to just 'execute'. Think about outlook and others. It is also very close to run as admin.

Maybe ctrl-delete may be a better key. I would only have this as a context menu item in the window walker section.

[crutkas]

xref #322 as well, good spot to share code

[P-Storm]

See #6604 (comment). Change of component and don't kill every instance.

[Just1n]

Hi @crutkas & @P-Storm , Is the killing 'Force kill' or just 'Send the close message to the window'?
See this link for the difference.

[htcfreek]

Small spec how a Kill process plugin can work:

• Result layout
  • Title: <name> - <Process-ID> (<user>)
  • Subtitle: <path>
  • Icon: Process icon/plugin icon
• Tool tip:
  • Line 1: <name> - <Process-ID>
  • Line 2: Main window: <process.MainWindowTitle>
  • Line 3: User context: <user>
  • Line 4: Path: <path>
• Commands
  • Result command: Kill this process only
  • Context menu: Kill all processes with this name
  • Send close message to process (Prio two feature)
  • "explorer.exe" context menu (addition): Restart explorer of current user
• Behavior
  • Process list: Only running on this user (See plugin setting!)
    • Should be validated by comparing user sid and session id.
  • Search by Process-ID, name, user context (Prio two feature), Window title (Prio two feature)
  • Hide special processes: lsass, winlogon, rundll32, ... [See this example.]
    • If explorer restart doesn't work we should hide it's processes or show only the on with an explorer window running independent from shell!!
  • Before process is killed check if it's exist/Update results after killing a process [Killing a killed process isn't possible and my lead to unexpected behavior. - See this issue.]
  • Ask for admin permission if the process to kill runs in other user context (See settings.)
  • Block results for "Global results" and show warning that it's blocked (See settings.) [It might be problematic to have this results global.]
  • Restart explorer of current user detached as current user process.
• Plugin settings
  • Show and kill processes for all users (default off) (Prio two feature)
  • Confirm on closing single process (default off)
  • Confirm on closing multiple processes by name (default on)
  • Ignore "Global results" warning and show results anyway (default off)
  • Switch kill command on enter with close command in context menu (default off)
  • Operate in window mode instead of process mode (default on)

---

I am not sure if I can implement such a plugin. But like to share my ideas. At the moment I don't have the time to implement it.

[franky920920]

Is this going in to the window walker? Or there may be two result for the same program.

[htcfreek]

Is this going in to the window walker? Or there may be two result for the same program.

I think we should have an own plugin. And as I wrote I think kill process results shouldn't be shown as global result per default.

If we add it with all the suggested features it's to complex for adding it into WindowWalker.

[crutkas]

I think a good first start is to add it to window walker. I think what is being proposed is far in excess to what was being asked.

[htcfreek]

@crutkas
In a first step I will implement close window and kill process into ww.

For killing you suggested Ctrl+Del. What should we use for closing window? Additional I will implement a setting to enable/disable confirmation of killing a process. For Explorer.exe we should add the prerequisite that each window has to run in it's own process.

If you are good with this please assign me. I will work on it in the next time.

[crutkas]

2nd context menu?!?

[htcfreek]

2nd context menu?!?

1. Close window like clicking on x in title bar. (Should work on elevated windows too and was indirectly requested in the comment [Run][New Plugin] Allow to terminate the selected running process #6084 (comment).)
2. Kill process sends a kill command to the process.

[htcfreek]

2nd context menu?!?

1. Close window like clicking on x in title bar. (Should work on elevated windows too and was indirectly requested in the comment [Run][New Plugin] Allow to terminate the selected running process #6084 (comment).)
2. Kill process sends a kill command to the process.

I have made a very simple PoC without pid/hwnd validation. But it shows what I think about. The code can be found here.

Close window:

An yes it can close elevated windows without PT Run running elevated. 🤩

Kill process:

When killing the process there is a bug in my PoC that PT Run doesn't close.
I have reopened Edge manually after killing the process to show you the "Edge closed unexpectedly" message.

[franky920920]

@htcfreek I would like to suggest a confirm message prompt would be great. ;)

[htcfreek]

@htcfreek I would like to suggest a confirm message prompt would be great. ;)

You mean confirm to kill? That is planned. But only for killing the process. 👍🏻

[franky920920]

@htcfreek I would like to suggest a confirm message prompt would be great. ;)

You mean confirm to kill? That is planned. But only for killing the process. 👍🏻

That's correct. 😄

[htcfreek]

@crutkas
This isn't fix-committed! We only committed the required code changes and fixes to prepare code for the new features. The new features are going to be a second PR. Please update the project assignment.

[Aaron-Junker]

I moved it to 0.56. Or do you can get it into 0.55?

[htcfreek]

I moved it to 0.56. Or do you can get it into 0.55?

No. Let's have it in 0.65. Then we have more time for testing and fixing.

[htcfreek]

project: v0.57.0

[htcfreek]

This is fixed with 0.57.0. Please head over to https://aka.ms/installpowertoys

[TCB13]

The problem is that this was based on window walker thus it is slow and doesn't allow to actually kill a process. It simply finds out what's the process behind a window and kills those. What about actual processes that don't have associated windows. For examples service-related processes, or stuff you're running on some terminal?

I would be great if this feature could be revised to pick the the actual process list from TaskManager instead of window list.