No easy way to force closed an application (Force Quit, End Task)

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

Ubuntu 12.04, 11.10, 11.04, 10.10, 10.04, 9.10, 9.04, 8.10, 8.04, 7.10, 7.04, 6.10, 6.06, 5.10, 5.04, 4.10

1. Launch a full-screen application, such as a game.
2. Have the application hang, or get bogged down using 100% of CPU.
3. Try to get out of the application.

What happens: You can't, unless you are the sort of geek who knows about Fn Ctrl Alt F1 and ps and grep and kill -9.

What should happen:
a. You type a keyboard combo (that isn't overridable by anything, not even a game's X grab).
b. A window appears in front of everything else (no matter what other kinds of window are open).
c. The window lists running applications (by icon and proper name).
d. The window is responsive to your input (no matter how much CPU other programs have been using).
e. You select the application you want to force closed, and click a button. (If it was running in someone else's account, you authenticate as an administrator.)
f. The application shuts down, and Ubuntu suggests that you submit an error report.

This is one of those simple problems that has never been solved well, because the people who know how to solve it know the geeky way of working around it. System Monitor (gnome-system-monitor) does not meet any of the bracketed requirements above. And if it was changed so it did meet those requirements, it would become annoying for its other uses.

This first needs a little design work, but most of the difficulty will be in the implementation.

[Andrea Cimitan (cimi)]

This comment is being written just to express my love for the humor
"Ubuntu 12.04, 11.10, 11.04, 10.10, 10.04, 9.10, 9.04, 8.10, 8.04, 7.10, 7.04, 6.10, 6.06, 5.10, 5.04, 4.10"

Thanks Matthew.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Britt Yazel (bwyazel)]

I too have had this problem and would like to see this change implimented! Perhaps the System Monitor should open up, or at least a link to the system monitor from the window that currently pops up.

[Bob Filipiak (bfilipiak)]

Perhaps the "best way" to cure this ""bug"" is to include the "force quit" selection from 'Add To Panel' as part of the base configuration.

Ever since I started using Ubuntu heavily (around 9.10), one item that always was placed in the top panel of my desktop was 'Force Quit'. I can not count the number of times I had to use it when one of the nightly Firefox builds I play with crashes.

While, I can not speak for how to do it with Unity, in Gnome, the key sequence `right click + F2` brings up a menu, the top option being "Add To Panel". If you scroll down, under "Fish" you will find "Force Quit", click on it, and then click "Add", and it is on your panel. Available anytime you need it. Now, why it doesn't work in Precise, is another story.