• From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Topic: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

This is an oldie but a goodie and for Linux noobs like myself, quite an exciting development

   1. When a program gets hung, hit Alt + F2 to bring up the Run dialog.
   2. Type in xkill and hit enter.
   3. Your mouse cursor will change into a cross or skull and bones.
   4. If the unresponsive application is not in focus, use Alt-Tab to switch to it. Left click anywhere on the application window to kill it.

Source

Last edited by nabilalk (2009-03-10 20:10:54)

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • From: Tours, France
  • Registered: 2008-12-11
  • Posts: 75

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Hello nabilalk!

Cool tips! I'm not a noobs, not a power-user, but I didn't know this.
Thanks.

A+ Francis .

  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

astrocisco wrote:

Hello nabilalk!

Cool tips! I'm not a noobs, not a power-user, but I didn't know this.
Thanks.

A+ Francis .

You are most welcome. I found this little trick when reading a Lifehacker article: "Linux fans will instantly recognize Kill as a clone of the handy xkill utility, because both of them let you instantly kill off a process by clicking on one of its windows." Well, I didn't recognize it, but I will now ;-)

Last edited by nabilalk (2009-03-10 20:17:48)

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • fhsm
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: New Hampshire, USA
  • Registered: 2009-01-05
  • Posts: 442

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

If we are talking about helpful kill tips then I'd say 

killall <name>

is my favorite.  Saves the PID look up, assuming you are willing to kill all the processes.

Perhaps more useful than kill all is

kill -9 <PID>

I find that when something hangs hard kill is rarely adequate to get the job done, Firefox with a plugin running is the most common example.

FHSM: avoid vowels and exotic consonants and you'll get your handle every time.  identi.ca
  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

fhsm wrote:

If we are talking about helpful kill tips then I'd say 

killall <name>

is my favorite.  Saves the PID look up, assuming you are willing to kill all the processes.

Perhaps more useful than kill all is

kill -9 <PID>

I find that when something hangs hard kill is rarely adequate to get the job done, Firefox with a plugin running is the most common example.

Yes, Firefox freezes for me all the time, especially when playing flash videos on my dinosaur of a video card. I'm assuming I look up the <PID> via htop (System Monitor)

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • Registered: 2009-03-02
  • Posts: 9

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

I added xkill to the openbox menu..
so if i have an unresponsive program I can shut it with out a terminal .

Nice and quick

  • Registered: 2009-03-10
  • Posts: 3

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

nabilalk wrote:

Yes, Firefox freezes for me all the time, especially when playing flash videos on my dinosaur of a video card. I'm assuming I look up the <PID> via htop (System Monitor)

Easier than that if X is unresponsive, use ps command from terminal.

ps -A

gives you a list of running processes and their PIDs.

  • omns
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: non-local
  • Registered: 2008-11-25
  • Posts: 4,404

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

nabilalk wrote:

Yes, Firefox freezes for me all the time, especially when playing flash videos on my dinosaur of a video card. I'm assuming I look up the <PID> via htop (System Monitor)

An easier way is to use

alt-f2
pkill firefox (or the name of the app you want to end)

A Creative Commoner | My images at Google+ | A Waldorf Review

Silence is sometimes the best answer - Dalai Lama.
  • fhsm
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: New Hampshire, USA
  • Registered: 2009-01-05
  • Posts: 442

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Does pkill allow cleanup?  I haven't had much luck with it.  I've find that it's rare that something hangs such that kill works without -9.  At least for me it seems like when something hangs for more than 60 seconds it's really stuck.

FHSM: avoid vowels and exotic consonants and you'll get your handle every time.  identi.ca
  • From: Traverse City, Michigan
  • Registered: 2008-12-18
  • Posts: 33

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Thanks for the tip, nabilalk. I've been curious if there was a way to emulate the "force quit" gnome panel applet and xkill seems to be it. Just added it to my menu

Give A Monkey A Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe

jasonwert's Website

  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

madmanu wrote:
nabilalk wrote:

Yes, Firefox freezes for me all the time, especially when playing flash videos on my dinosaur of a video card. I'm assuming I look up the <PID> via htop (System Monitor)

Easier than that if X is unresponsive, use ps command from terminal.

ps -A

gives you a list of running processes and their PIDs.

Thanks for the tip.

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • Registered: 2009-12-12
  • Posts: 2

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

You can also use "kill $(pidof <name>)" instead of looking up manually on another command's output. This will redirect the pidof's output directly to kill's parameter, giving it the number you'd type yourself manually.

13 Reply by fox

  • fox
  • #! Junkie
  • Offline
  • From: Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
  • Registered: 2009-05-10
  • Posts: 361

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

How do you set this up as a menu item in CrunchBang?

Mac user with Linux tendencies
#!CrunchBang Statler & UNE 10.10 on Acer 1810TZ (OCZ Vertex 60gb SSD)
#!, Mint LMDE & Peppermint Ice on MSI Wind U100 (Gigabye Atheros b/g wireless)
Various linux virtual machines on a Mac mini, an iMac and a MacBook Pro
  • From: Dusk Till Dawn
  • Registered: 2009-07-02
  • Posts: 4,148

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

@fox,

right-click the desktop, go to the preferences, openbox, gui menu editor
there you choose a place where you want to add it to the menu, select 'new item' (not 'new menu'!)
give it a label (mine is called "killer") and the execute command:   xkill
save the new menu (first icon in the gui)

★ STATLER ლ(ಠ益ಠლ Y U NO WALDORF?  ★ #!11 ★
  • From: Nijmegen, Holland
  • Registered: 2009-12-11
  • Posts: 230

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

When pkill isn't sufficient to kill firefox, killall -9 firefox-bin will do the trick.

GNu/Linux: Nu nog schoner: http://linuxnogschoner.blogspot.com/  Dutch

pablokal's Website

  • Digit
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: the internet
  • Registered: 2009-05-26
  • Posts: 703

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

sweet, i'm adding xkill to alt-F6 right away.

/me hits ctrl-tux-alt-o to open his rc.xml in gedit ready to edit.
/me lubs shortcuts.
/me copies his last added keyboard shortcut, pastes it just above it, and just below the line depicting where his edited shortcuts are, then changes the apropriate bits, the shortcut to A-F6, the name to xkill and the command to xkill, job done, he saves, he waits for the save to complete, he hits tux-alt-o to restart openbox, waits for the windows to refresh, then tries out his new kill keybind on xclock...
/me lubs shortcuts
/me lubs /me actions.
/me lubs "lubs".

big_smile

this should sort out that pesky sfxr that so often refuses to close.  smile

lovely.  thnx for this guys.   will save me all that extra keypresses through htop that i had usually been doing.

Last edited by Digit (2010-01-19 20:39:27)

educate yourself so you may educate others.DeNoob&UnBloat PCs!
the only free webhosting i use.
say "NO!" to a chemical lobotomy in your food
flattr me, thnx

Digit's Website

  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Digit wrote:

sweet, i'm adding xkill to alt-F6 right away.

/me hits ctrl-tux-alt-o to open his rc.xml in gedit ready to edit.
/me lubs shortcuts.
/me copies his last added keyboard shortcut, pastes it just above it, and just below the line depicting where his edited shortcuts are, then changes the apropriate bits, the shortcut to A-F6, the name to xkill and the command to xkill, job done, he saves, he waits for the save to complete, he hits tux-alt-o to restart openbox, waits for the windows to refresh, then tries out his new kill keybind on xclock...
/me lubs shortcuts
/me lubs /me actions.
/me lubs "lubs".

big_smile

this should sort out that pesky sfxr that so often refuses to close.  smile

lovely.  thnx for this guys.   will save me all that extra keypresses through htop that i had usually been doing.

ctrl-tux-alt-o ?

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • Kuno
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Osnabrück - DE
  • Registered: 2009-01-09
  • Posts: 560

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

nabilalk wrote:

ctrl-tux-alt-o ?

I put xkill on Ctrl+Alt+Q

  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Kuno wrote:
nabilalk wrote:

ctrl-tux-alt-o ?

I put xkill on Ctrl+Alt+Q

Would you mind posting detailed instructions?

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • Kuno
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Osnabrück - DE
  • Registered: 2009-01-09
  • Posts: 560

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

nabilalk wrote:
Kuno wrote:
nabilalk wrote:

ctrl-tux-alt-o ?

I put xkill on Ctrl+Alt+Q

Would you mind posting detailed instructions?

I put this into my rc.xml:

<keybind key="A-C-q">
      <action name="Execute">
        <startupnotify>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <name>XKill</name>
        </startupnotify>
        <command>xkill</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Then restart openbox, afterwards that keycombo gives xou that evil "X". smile

  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Kuno wrote:
nabilalk wrote:
Kuno wrote:

I put xkill on Ctrl+Alt+Q

Would you mind posting detailed instructions?

I put this into my rc.xml:

<keybind key="A-C-q">
      <action name="Execute">
        <startupnotify>
          <enabled>true</enabled>
          <name>XKill</name>
        </startupnotify>
        <command>xkill</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Then restart openbox, afterwards that keycombo gives xou that evil "X". smile

Cheers for the info.

Have you noticed that an xkill of Firefox (for example) does not actually kill the process? If you try to open up firefox after an xkill, Firefox says that it is already open. Launching htop shows that the FF process is still open.  An earlier post in this thread suggests 

killall <name>

to kill stubborn processes like hanging Firefox with plugins. 

killall firefox

successfully quits FF and removes it from htop (System Monitor). Since Firefox is the app that I have to forcequit the most, this is particularly useful.

Last edited by nabilalk (2010-01-19 23:53:21)

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • Kuno
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Osnabrück - DE
  • Registered: 2009-01-09
  • Posts: 560

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

In that case i use the taskmanager (LXTask) to kill firefox.  Maybe replace xkill with "killall firefox" in above rc.xml-section...

Last edited by Kuno (2010-01-19 23:59:37)

  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Kuno wrote:

In that case use the taskmanager (LXTask) to kill firefox. Don't know if its possible to customize a keycommand for that...

LXTask via Terminal? I'm not finding that command working, and LXTask in Terminal gave me a "command not found" error.

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox
  • Kuno
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • From: Osnabrück - DE
  • Registered: 2009-01-09
  • Posts: 560

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

nabilalk wrote:
Kuno wrote:

In that case use the taskmanager (LXTask) to kill firefox. Don't know if its possible to customize a keycommand for that...

LXTask via Terminal? I'm not finding that command working, and LXTask in Terminal gave me a "command not found" error.

No, not terminal. It's a gui-app. If not in the repos, you can get it here: http://people.linux.org.tw/~andrew/debian/lxde/lxtask/

  • From: U.S.A.
  • Registered: 2009-01-28
  • Posts: 531

Re: Easily Kill Unresponsive Applications with single click Using Xkill

Kuno wrote:
nabilalk wrote:
Kuno wrote:

In that case use the taskmanager (LXTask) to kill firefox. Don't know if its possible to customize a keycommand for that...

LXTask via Terminal? I'm not finding that command working, and LXTask in Terminal gave me a "command not found" error.

No, not terminal. It's a gui-app. If not in the repos, you can get it here: http://people.linux.org.tw/~andrew/debian/lxde/lxtask/

lxtask was not available in the repos or Synaptec. Thanks for the link. This is a nice little app.

#! 10 “Statler” r20110207 32-bit & Openbox