Hidden Program

I have shut down a program, and it is not visible in Task Manager, but it is still running and I cannot shut it down unless I close the computer.
How can I find this hidden program to shut it down?

Care to share what the program is? And if it's not in Task Manager how do you know it's still running, if you shut it down? With so little to go on anything I would suggest would be a total guess.

You can use tasklist command to find out the program and later use taskkill to kill(stop) that program.
If the name of the program is ghost.exe, Open Start Menu > Run and type taskkill /f /im ghost.exe and press Enter

More information : How to kill a program using taskkill command

Edited by Romeo29, 17 November 2009 - 07:25 PM.

The Sysinternals web site is a great place to start for problems like this. They have two really good tools for shutting down running process manually.

PLEASE NOTE: Tinkering with and/or terminating a running process can be VERY DANGEROUS. Certain system processes must run continously in order to guarantee the proper operation of your computer. If you do not know what a process does, what it is intended to do, or what you are doing when you terminate a process - LEAVE IT ALONE!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Having given you the above disclaimer - use the following information at your own risk. Terminating the incorrect process can leave you with an unstable/unbootable system:

1. Process Explorer - (http://www.sysinternals.com/) Under Process Utilities - has a GUI [Graphical User Interface] and will actually allow you to search online to find out what a certain file or process on your system does. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR NOVICE USERS to keep from crashing a system. Not every unknown process is a bad one and not all processes should be terminated if you think something is wrong.

Process Explorer will also show you relevant information for each process such as:

• How much CPU usage each process is taking up on your computer
• Files and folders in use by each process
• Hooks and System Calls in use by each process
• What program and/or file started the process

Again, I am not recommending you use any software to randomly turn off running processes on your machine. If you think you have an infection or someone has hacked you, COME BACK HERE AND ASK FOR HELP IN THE APPROPRIATE FORUM!

2. PSTOOLS - same website, also found under "Process Utilities" will give you command line control over running processes and the ability to list (using PSLIST) or kill (using PSKILL) any process you can identify.

I CAN NOT STATE THIS ENOUGH - IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING, DO NOTHING!!! COME BACK HERE AND ASK FOR HELP.

I am not being sarcastic, nor do I think that you are not capable of fixing your system with the right amount of training and knowledge. But in helping you to solve a problem, I have a responsibility to not make your situation worse by turning you loose with tools that could make your problem bigger.

If you have any questions, ask first.

The program I am trying to stop is Adobe Bridge.
I close it down. Then later I want to open it up again, but when I click on the Icon, nothing happens.
If I open task manager, no programs are listed.
I thought it might have gotten corrupted, so I though I would try to remove it and re-install it.
When I went to the Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs and clicked on remove the Adobe Suite, a message came up indicating that the program was still running.
I could only re-open it if I closed the computer down and then re-started it.
I am assuming that I might find another way to close the program?

Just a guess...

Any Adobe program (IME) installs a number of services when a user installs Adobe software.

Typical would be some sort of Adobe update service.

You should be able to remove any Adobe program...if you use Task Manager to end Adobe all processes which are running in the background.

Various programs will not allow uninstallation via Add/Remove Programs...as long as background processes are running.

Louis

If the program is running as an service, you would may not find it listed in the taskmanager.

Open command prompt from Start Menu > Run, type cmd and pressing Enter.
Type tasklist /svc /fi "services eq adobe*" to list all the services running with adobe in their name
If you find any adobe service listed (in the right side description) note down service name.
Then give command: NET STOP "service_name" where service_name is the service name you noted down.

Edited by Romeo29, 18 November 2009 - 09:34 AM.

My problem with Adobe is a little different: It's my attitude toward ANY program on my computer...that, when I choose to Delete/Uninstall through ControlPanel...all I get is COPY or EXTRACT (file), whic is precisely what is happening in my attempt to remove AdobeReader 8 !

Edited by Herbert Rogers, 06 April 2010 - 10:28 AM.

Hi Herbert, Welcome to BleepingComputer,

It would be best if you started your own topic to address your issues