How To Minimize A Full Screen Computer Program 13 Steps

Double-clicking most video player windows (e. g. , VLC or YouTube) will take you out of full-screen mode.

Press ⊞ Win+⇧ Shift+M to open all minimized programs again.

Click Task Manager. Click the Processes tab. Click the full-screen program. Click End task.

Pressing Esc while playing a game won’t minimize the game.

Some programs will simply exit full-screen after using this shortcut, meaning you’ll need to click the yellow “Minimize” button to fully minimize the program.

If you have a game window open, look at the key bindings to see if there is an option for minimizing or exiting full-screen. If you are playing a game through Steam, the Steam application may interfere with your ability to minimize programs.