How to kill a process that even taskkill cannot terminate?

yankleber · 22 Nov 2016

Right in this moment I am with a recalcitrant process (foobar2000.exe *32) allocated in the memory. The application already was terminated but I cannot eliminate the process. First I tried the Task Manager Window and nothing. Then I tried the taskkill prompt command, it said that the process was terminated but it is still there.

The weird part is that either tasklist (cmd) as well Task Manager shows it there but it I try to run taskkill again it says that it is not.

There is a way of put it down without to reboot the system?

Thanks!

MourningStar · 22 Nov 2016

If me, I take no chance and I reboot immediately.

yankleber · 22 Nov 2016

Sure, but I didn't understand... why not reboot would be "to take a chance"?

MourningStar · 22 Nov 2016

because for me a unkillable process could be dangerous

yankleber · 22 Nov 2016

I see, but I don't think that's the case... annoying yes, very, but not harmful...

:)

XweAponX · 22 Nov 2016

I use Unlocker to do it, you can get it from major geeks. If it's a malicious process and you're trying to just get rid of it, Unlocker can shut it down and then delete the executable.

But I just noticed the name of your app, that's a popular music playing app, Foobar2k. It runs in the background because it pops up really quick and then closes down really quick. It's basically just an MP3 player.

MourningStar · 22 Nov 2016

XweAponX said:

... foobar2000 ... It's basically just an MP3 player.

Ohhh ... it is much much more than 'basically just an mp3 player'. In fact, playing mp3's is the least important feature.

yankleber · 23 Nov 2016

XweAponX said:

I use Unlocker to do it, you can get it from major geeks. If it's a malicious process and you're trying to just get rid of it, Unlocker can shut it down and then delete the executable.

But I just noticed the name of your app, that's a popular music playing app, Foobar2k. It runs in the background because it pops up really quick and then closes down really quick. It's basically just an MP3 player.

Yep, it's the mp3 player. I have used it for ages and yesterday for the first time it froze when I was listen to some tunes then I killed the application but the process remained in the memory. I don't think that it's a malicious stuff and I really don't believe that it is harmful in any way (I never heard of it).

Thanks for the tip about Unlocker; I know this. But as far as I know it is not to remove a process from memory, instead its usage is to "unlock" files that cannot be deleted.

yankleber · 23 Nov 2016

I just ran a complete scan with Avast and Spybot and nothing was found, so I am sure that I don't have any kind of infection. Probably it was just an isolated case not related with any kind of threat.

To be honest I didn't get concerned when it happened. I just wanted to continue listening to my tunes and I had so many opened applications with files I was working on that to reboot my computer at that time didn't seem to be a reasonable option. At the end I just continued doing what I had to do and accepted the fact that I wouldn't be able to listen to music at the same time... then I rebooted the PC an hour or so later.

Still in the search for a solution for such problem though...

Barman58 · 23 Nov 2016

I would always reboot in this circumstance, just as a precaution against the slight chance that something malicious has taken over/replaced the original safe application. Once rebooted run a full Virus/Malware sweep of your system, and once clear check for updates to the application As this could be a case of non compatibility with a recent windows or other system update.