Microsoft is reportedly developing a new option to end a task on its Windows 11 operating system.
Will this new option mark the end of the Ctrl + Alt + Del command, widely used to force stop a crashing application? A Twitter user spotted the feature through a developer build of Windows 11 and decided to share the information on their account.
An option currently hidden
Any Windows user knows this shortcut, usually a sign of a malfunctioning application. The Ctrl + Alt + Del allows you to open, among other options, the list of current tasks and to force the closure of those desired when you cannot close it normally. According to Twitter user PhantomOfEarth, Microsoft would expand an end task option available directly by right-clicking on the application thumbnail in the taskbar.
Called simply “End task” or probably “Fin de task” in French, this option is currently under development in version 25300 of the Microsoft operating system. A version dedicated to developers, in which the option has been hidden. As often to activate a hidden option, you will have to use the Vivetool tool and type the command vivetool /enable /id:42592269.
A possible cohabitation?
We still know very little regarding this new option, as for the previous ones unveiled by hackers. We do not know, for example, if Microsoft really intends to release it or if the giant will make it coexist with the Task Manager. But it is true that this information makes fear the disappearance of the use of the shortcut Ctrl + Alt + Del.
Granted, forcing a task to end isn’t the only Task Manager feature the shortcut opens up. But its use is very strongly directed towards this option by a large number of users who find themselves blocked by the bug of a software which then refuses to close.
The shortcut still has many qualities (it allows you to lock your session or change users on the fly) and is part of the furniture as they say. Introduced by engineer David Bradley, the shortcut has been used since early versions of Windows. Its function was initially only used to restart a computer without having to shut it down first. Its use has since evolved. Microsoft wishing to make many changes to its operating system (such as a remodeling of the file explorer for example), it would not be surprising either to see this option arrive on a future update of the OS.
