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I have a program that hangs randomly. Whenever it hangs, even the Ctrl + Alt + Del or Ctrl + Shift + Esc combinations can't take me out of the program and into the task manager. The only solution is to force the computer to shut down by pressing the power button for 8 seconds.

I don't get why Ctrl + Alt + Del can be overwritten by any program. Is there any way to prevent programs from overriding Ctrl + Alt + Del?

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What's the program? Apps can't override Ctrl + Alt + Del. Most likely the app (or something else) is hanging the entire OS to the point where the OS can't even respond to the key press. This is NOT overriding the keys, it's just that the OS is not responding at all. – Chris Nava Dec 18 '10 at 9:09
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Ctrl-Alt-Del is intercepted at the lowest level of the OS and is usually not possible to override by user-space program. This is why windows requires Ctrl-Alt-Del before logon - this will ensure that the keys following the Ctrl-Alt-Del be intercepted by windows not other software.

I think most likely your program that hangs has completely stopped the OS from running (e.g. causing memory/graphic card trouble and so on)

Good luck.

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Thank you very much! – Roy Dec 19 '10 at 1:04
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