Solved CTRL-ALT-DEL unresponsive - how do I find and fix?

[soho1]

So, Win7 seems as if it's hung.... sort of... Some programs are responsive enough to close, but others are just stuck and I cannot pull up the task manager with CTRL-ALT-DEL. I can click the windows menu button but cannot type into the search box for commands like TASKMGR.EXE.

Note that the keyboard is working however, as Windows Mouse without Borders, which I use as a soft KVM is allowing me to mouse over to nearby PC and key in this post, using the keyboard and mouse on the "hung... sort of" PC. Indeed I can mouse around on the problem PC, but application windows seem to go white-ish when I click on them. This includes the menu windows which now appears "hung" in this white-ish mode. So, now I cannot even close anything that was previously responsive.

 

[soho1]

Ach! I figured it out. A few reboots later, I found Windows trying to install some new update. The usual 'tard-ishness of Windows. I can only hope now that it actually completes and gets out of the way. This is why there should be genuine fear of AI - we are a species of idiots that can't write a simple software update program without kicking people to the curb. But no worries, that's a good sign of my usual stage 3 grieving over Microsoft software - anger. Thankfully, I used to write devices drivers and understand co-routines, so I can be both in anger and acceptance at the same time.