How to remove small box with "Minimize"

Rick H 0 Reputation points
2026-06-19T14:53:04.1066667+00:00

I've had the issue happen a few times and the only fix was to restart my pc. Dug in a little deeper and the question in the forum didn't have an answer, and I found a fix that finally worked.

Hover your mouse over the 'Minimize' box and then press Alt + F4

restarting windows explorer, refreshing the display, changing display settings, ending open tasks in task manager, etc non of that worked but the Alt + F4 did, thought I'd throw it out there

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Display and graphics
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  1. AI answer

    2026-06-19T14:53:12.78+00:00

    Pressing Alt + F4 while the mouse is over the small “Minimize” box is effectively closing the active window (or app) that owns that stuck UI element. This works because:

    • Alt + F4 is a standard Windows shortcut to close the active item or exit the active app.
    • When the “Minimize” box is visually stuck on screen, it is usually part of a window or process that is misbehaving. Closing that window/process with Alt + F4 clears the overlay without needing to restart the PC or Windows Explorer.

    If the issue recurs and Alt + F4 does not help, additional options from similar UI problems include:

    1. Use Task Manager to end the problematic process:
      • Press Ctrl + Shift + Escape to open Task Manager.
      • Find the app or process that owns the stuck UI and select End task.
    2. Restart Windows Explorer (if the stuck element appears to be part of the shell):
      • In Task Manager, locate Windows Explorer in the Processes tab.
      • Right-click it and select Restart.
    3. As a last resort, sign out and back in, or shut down the PC instead of just restarting, which can clear some persistent UI states.

    Alt + F4 remains the quickest fix when the stuck “Minimize” box belongs to the currently focused window.

    References:

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