The One with the Thoughts of Frans

Someone asked me how to find a shortcut key to call something like Task Manager to terminate a program.

In Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10, the following applies:

1. The easiest option in this particular instance:

   Alt + F2, gnome-system-monitor, Enter

2. The slightly more complicated (though still easy), always applicable option:

   System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts

   Click Add

   Type whatever you like in name. “System Monitor”, “Task Manager” or anything you like. It doesn’t really matter, just so you can identify it yourself.

   Type gnome-system-monitor in Command.

   Click Apply.

   Scroll down to the bottom (Custom Shortcuts)

   Click on where it says “Disabled”

   Press Ctrl + Alt + Del (by default this keybinding gives you the logout/shutdown screen, so you’ll probably get a warning about reassigning this particular combination).

For more information on keybindings in Ubuntu, I’d advise you to read the community documentation. If you’re interested, you can also check out the original context of what I wrote in this post.