Stop may refer to any of the following:

  1. In general, stop refers to canceling the loading process of a program. Stop is often represented by a red octagon or red circle with an “x” in the middle, and may be an icon or button.

  2. When referring to a symbol or a button, a stop is a solid square that stops an audio or video from playing.

Pressing Esc as something is loading (e.g., a web page loading) stops the loading process.

To stop a program in Windows, use Task Manager.

  • What should I do when a computer freezes or locks up?
  • POST troubleshooting steps.
  • Why do Windows programs stop responding?
  • How to remove TSRs and startup programs.
  1. Linux command, see the stop command page for further information about this command.
  • What are the most common symbols used by computers?
  1. The stop button found in older Internet browsers is used to halt the loading of a web page.

Browser, Cancel, Close, Halt, Software terms

If a browser, like Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge, does not have a stop button, you can press the Esc key to stop a page from loading.