Windows 10: cannot exit notepad without shutting down the program on Task Manager and cannot return to...

I have a criminal hacker. He could have done this, but I need help fixing it regardless. Notepad will no longer exit without asking me if I want to save every notepad document I've ever created even if I only worked on one and wish only to work on one and wish to save and exit and eventually re-open only the document I've worked on. The program has all previous notepad docs listed at the top of the screen and goes through every one of the tabs, asking me to save or not save it. Next time I open the document I was working on, it opens on one of the other tabs.

:)

 

Notepad hangs at exit

When I do not quit notepad before shutdown, Windows 11 prevents me from doing shutdown. After "cancel shutdown" and return to desktop, I find the notepad inactive. The only way to return to normal function is "end of task" in Task Manager (Task is Notepad application).

This seems to be an errorneous behaviour. How to cure it?

Thanks in advance for hint/solution.

Milos

 

notepad

04sall is the name of the document that Notepad has opened. Usually Notepad is meant to open "text" or "source code" files, however it can open other types of files. Now relating back to your issue, the fact that 04sall does not have file format means
that it used by a program or Windows, and could be quite large. This might have caused Notepad to freeze. You will have to force close Notepad, to do that please follow the following steps.

Step 1: Press the buttons "Ctrl, alt, and delete" simultaneously. A list of options should come up. Click on Task Manager from the options that display. Note, if Task Manager is unable to open OR pressing the buttons "Ctrl, alt, and delete" simultaneously
does not do anything, jump to Step 5.

Step 2: In task manager select Notepad. Now click the "End Task" button. If a confirmation message comes up, then click "End Task" in the confirmation message. If Notepad closes then problem is solved. If Notepad does not close please repeat this step.
If repeating this step after 5 times does not work, go on to Step 3.

Step 3: Select Notepad on task manager, right click on the selected Notepad in Task Manager. A drop down menu should come up. Select "Go to Details". After doing this DO NOT click on anything yet. Go to step 4.

Step 4: There should already be something highlighted, right click the highlighted object, a drop down menu should appear. Click "End Task" option from that menu. A prompt will come up, click the "End Process" option on the prompt. If Notepad closes then
problem is solved. If Notepad does not close, please repeat this step. If repeating this step does not work, got to step 5.

Step 5: Hard shutdown the computer, by pressing onto the power button. DO NOT LET GO OF the power button until the computer power indication sign has turned off. Now turn the computer back on. If the issue is gone, then problem is fixed. If "04sall-notepad"
opens up again on startup, please reply back stating that.

 

Notepad consuming cpu 40%

Your screenshot of Task Manager and the notepad.exe properties shows the same size and creation date as in @dalchina's earlier screenshot. So it looks like it is the real notepad that's running.

But - it isn't running the way it should. In your Task Manager there should be a > to the left of notepad, and clicking on it should open up a list of the Notepad instances that are running, along with the name of the document that's open (or 'Untitled - Notepad' if none).

Yours doesn't show that (compare it with dalchina's screenshot). Notepad is running - yes, but not the way it's supposed to. It appears to be in the list of background processes, not in the list of Apps where it should be. Could something be trying to run it as a service? Perhaps some malware set this up, but failed to replace the genuine notepad.exe with its counterfeit one?

As a first step I'd look at the Startup tab in Task Manager for clues.