How to Shut Down a Locked Computer

We all know how to turn off a computer. Or, at least, we should see if we have one at home. The problem is that, sometimes, our computer freezes, paralyzes, or crashes and leaves us no choice but to force it, an option that may not be the most suitable for our system. 

We can easily recognize when our computer has been blocked because it does not respond to our instructions. The cursor has become immobile, or an error message appears that we cannot eliminate.

There are many reasons why a computer can crash. If you know the cause, you may be able to do something else to solve the problem, but in most cases and without computer knowledge, we choose to try to force a shutdown or restart the computer.

Causes of Your Computer Blocking

Before seeing how to turn off a locked computer, we find it interesting to know what the most common causes of the lock are. Indeed you can work to improve some of them and avoid future crashes.

Software: Programs that are outdated or not compatible with the operating system you are working with often block the device. You always have to keep both programs and applications up to date.

Malware or Virus: Surely, you have a powerful antivirus installed (or so we hope), but that does not prevent a virus from trying to block your computer and succeed. As in the previous option, try to make sure your antivirus is up to date and is the latest generation to prevent damage to your computer.

Overheating: If any computer components stop working, totally or partially, it can cause a computer crash.

Overvoltage: An electrical overload can also paralyze our computer, even leave it inoperable. You may even have to go through your insurance to fix it.

Base Plate: It is one of the most delicate elements of our equipment. Of course, if the computer crashes only due to problems with the motherboard, it would be one of the slightest damages that the laptop would suffer from this component. Another motherboard damage is usually severe.

Other causes: include running a program that requires more than our computer can provide, insufficient computer memory, hiring less Internet speed than we need, etc.

How to Shut Down a Locked Computer

Now yes, let’s see if we can turn off the locked computer. The first thing we have to do is have some patience. When we see that our computer is paralyzed, we tend to click on different options, and indeed what we will do is block it more. 

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It will be unable to execute any more actions. Therefore, the first thing is to wait. It may have too many tasks to complete, and it may be saturated, downloading a file may block it, and it may take longer to load something… If, after a few minutes, we see that the computer is still not responding, we can try to turn it off with the following options:

Start and Select the Shut Down Option. If the cursor doesn’t move, you probably can’t fix it with this option.

Windows key + Shut down. After pressing Windows, you can move to the Shutdown option with the keyboard cursors.

Alt+F4. This key combination is used to close system windows and apps.

Ctrl+Alt+Del . This combination opens the task manager and allows you to see the currently running programs. You can end the task of the specific application that you think is crashing or blocking the computer.

Windows and X. It will open several functions: Shutdown and Restart. You have to go up to this function, hit Enter, and choose to turn off the computer.

Clean equipment. If none of the above functions can turn off your blocked computer, we may resort to cleaning. Dust filters through its components and affects the performance of our computer (either laptop or desktop). This causes serious failures that directly affect the cooling system. There is a wide variety of cleaners specialized in electronic devices in any online store.

Quick Reboot. If we are still unable to turn off our equipment and it remains blocked, we need more drastic measures. Although it is not the most recommended option (the one we use most often), we will try to hold down the power button. The equipment would restart automatically (it may warn us that it has not been turned off correctly).

Unplug the laptop. We would have to remove the battery or unplug it from the network. We consider this a drastic measure that can severely affect our team.

Someone blocks us. It may be another user who is securing our computer because he has started his session, and we do not have the access password. To solve it, you have to click on the switch icon shown in the lower right part of the lock screen and select the option to turn it off.

On another occasion, we will talk about the consequences of not shutting down your computer correctly, but in the meantime, we hope that we have solved your computer’s blocking problem with the options that we offer you.

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