Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Windows 11 to borrow one of the Mac’s biggest conveniences

Luke Larsen
By

The Windows 11 taskbar already shares a lot in common with the Mac dock, but a new development shows that Microsoft may be taking inspiration from another beloved feature: Force Quit.

The ability to Force Quit directly from the dock can come in handy when things freeze up, and according to the latest Windows 11 build in the Dev Channel (Build 23430), you’ll be able right click on an application in your Taskbar and click End Task to kill it immediately.

Recommended Videos

As noted by Toms Hardware, it’s going to be hidden in Settings, as ending the task can result in lost data. The setting will be found under the For Developers menu within Privacy & Security, where there will be a toggle for something called End Task. If this rolls out to everyone in a future Windows 11 update, toggling this setting should enable you to end tasks right from your taskbar. But clearly, Microsoft doesn’t intend for the average person using Windows 11 to have access to it — and certainly not for it to be turned on by default.

The simpler way to end a task in this same manner is through the Task Manager. It takes a few more steps to access, but given the gravity of killing an application in this fashion, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have the user jump through a few hoops.

Apple takes a different approach with its own Force Quit option. It’s hidden from a standard right-click, but it’s only hidden by a key command instead of a setting. This ensures that only more advanced Mac users will know it’s there, but doesn’t require digging through developer-only settings.

Coming from Windows 10, Windows 11 has seen the taskbar share more in common with the macOS dock, most obviously by centering it on the screen and abandoning the traditional Start menu. But clearly, it continues to be a work in progress, and we may see even more drastic changes as Windows 12 (or whatever the successor is called) is in development.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Luke Larsen
Luke Larsen
Senior Editor, Computing
Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
M3 Macs may launch this year — with a surprising addition
Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air placed on a desk.

We’ve only just gotten a bunch of new Macs from Apple, with the 15-inch MacBook Air launching a mere one month ago alongside a slate of other Apple computers. Yet the company is already gearing up to release M3 Macs at a special event later this year, and they could be the biggest performance upgrade we’ve seen in years.

This idea comes from journalist Mark Gurman, who has correctly predicted many upcoming products and details in Apple’s lineup. In his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman explains that, while there will be a whole heap of new devices arriving at an event in October, they won’t include Apple’s high-end laptops and desktops.

Read more
There are too many MacBooks
The lid of Apple's 15-inch MacBook Air seem from above.

There are too many MacBooks. With six options to compare, choosing one from the lineup now requires a deep knowledge of the marketing and technical materials -- a lack of which will lead someone to make the wrong choice.

I know what you're thinking -- what could possibly be wrong with more options? Certainly, more choice is better for the customer, right? There's some validity to that belief, to be sure. But if Apple wants to remain the In-N-Out of the tech world rather than McDonalds, Apple needs to trim down its MacBook lineup. And fortunately, there's an opportunity coming up that might be the perfect time for a shakeup.
The problem with the M2
Apple Silicon is still very young. It's been almost three years since it was birthed into the world, and we're only two generations into its development. And as big of a deal as the M1 was when it launched, showing the real potential of Apple Silicon versus the rest of the industry. But the real test of its impact would have to be long-term.

Read more
macOS Sonoma public beta review: more than just screensavers
Craig Federighi introducing macOS Sonoma at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June 2023.

It’s that time of year again when Apple launches all of its new operating systems into public beta and invites a brave public to sift through bugs and crashes to find the nuggets of gold that Apple has been working on. With macOS Sonoma now in public beta, the big question is this: should you upgrade your Mac?

Well, this year’s update has been a rather modest one, with few truly standout features. After all, you know it’s an unexceptional update when Apple leads its list of new features in macOS Sonoma with screen savers.

Read more