Windows XP Home Edition: The Missing Manual

Exiting Programs

When you exit, or quit, an application, the memory it was using is returned to the Windows pot for use by other programs.

If you use a particular program several times a day, like a word processor or calendar program, you’ll save time in the long run by keeping it open all day long. (You can always minimize its window to get it out of the way when you’re not using it.)

But if you’re done using a program for the day, exit it, especially if it’s a memory-hungry one like, say, Photoshop. Do so using one of these techniques:

• Choose File→Exit.

• Click the program window’s close box, or double-click its Control-menu icon (at the upper-left corner of the window).

• Right-click the program’s taskbar button and choose Close from the shortcut menu.

• Press Alt+F4 to close the window you’re in. (If it’s a program that disappears entirely when its last document window closes, you’re done.)

  UP TO SPEED Sending an Error Report to Microsoft

  Whenever Windows XP discovers that you have terminated one program or another in some eccentric way—for example, by using the Task Manager (see Figure 6-2)—a dialog box appears that says, “Please tell Microsoft about this problem.”

  

  Figure 6-2. As if you didn’t know, one of these programs is “not responding.” Highlight its name and then click End Task to put it out of its misery. Once the program disappears from the list, close the Task Manager and get on ...