Is there a way to force shut down Windows 7 when Ctrl-Alt-Del won't work?

First of all, I think the fact that Ctrl-Alt-Del isn't working for me is due to a mistake on my part, not a virus.
Let me explain what happened. It started with a recurring problem I've had while using Firefox and Internet Explorer; I'll click in a search field and nothing will happen. Then when I try again, the browser window will lighten like I'm looking through a screen and the title bar will display the message that Explorer (or Firefox) is not responding.
That just happened again with Firefox, so I tried to access the same website with Explorer and the same thing happened.
So I thought maybe some update process was happening in the background and I thought maybe I could stop that with the Task Manager.
So I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and I clicked on some things that looked like updates, and I also clicked to stop Firefox and Internet Explorer. But in my haste, I think I mistakenly clicked Windows Explorer too.
Now my task bar and start button are gone and Ctrl-Alt-Del won't work anymore. When I click anywhere in the application that was running (iTunes), nothing works.
I tried pressing the power button and waiting about a minute, but when I start it up again, it's right back where I left it after I sign in again.
Is there any way to force it to shut down without Ctr-Alt-Del?
I thought of unplugging it and waiting for the battery to run out, but I'm hoping there may be another way?
Thanks

 

I think you corrupted explorer.exe. If you have the Windows installation disk, there may be a way to recover it.

From the Start menu, go to All programs -> Accessories and right click on Command Prompt and left click on Run as Administrator. Enter the password if required.

When the Command Console opens, if the directory showing is anything other than C:\> type cd C:\ and press enter.

At the C:\> prompt type sfc /scannow (include the space between sfc and the forward slash) and press enter.The scanning process will begin.

You'll be asked to insert the Windows installation CD (DVD). Do so if you haven't already done so and select Retry.

The process will take a while but it checks the protected system files and if it detects problems it attempts repairs using the original files on the CD (DVD).

After the process is completed, restart the computer (however you were able to).

I ran the scan on my computer running XP Pro. The only "adverse" effect it had was it reverted to the Windows default graphics driver. It was a simple matter to re-install the nVidia graphics driver.

 

If you use task manager, you can goto file run - then type in explorer.exe and it should reload explorer. Or in task manager you can choose to shutdown/log off, either should get you back to a usuable state ie after a reboot, or logging back on if you did kill explorer.exe, closing explorer.exe by accident really isn't a big issue.

 

In Windows XP...go to the C:\Windows\system32 folder. Find the icon for Task Manager (TaskMgr) and click on it to open Task Manager. This will open Task Manager (hopefully). If you are using another version of Windows it should be in roughly the same place...

Then you can take Colemanguy's advice to restart Explorer.exe

 

Thank you both for the reply, but I'm not sure I understand how I can follow either of your suggestions. My desktop is completely frozen. I can't get to the C directory to use Task Manager and there's no Start Menu, so I don't know how else to get to goto filerun.
I tried letting the battery run down overnight, but I just rebooted it and it's right back to where it was before; no Task Bar or Start Menu and iTunes is frozen in place.
Maybe I should have started it in safe mode? Do I have to let the battery run down again?

 

Pressing the power button may just be putting it in a sleep mode. try holding the power button down until it turns off. Then turn it back on. This way we know you are starting with a fresh boot.

 

Press and hold down the power button for about 5-6 seconds. This should power off the computer.

Edit: Oops, I see you tried pressing the power button. Can you remove the hard drive and put it in an external enclosure and connect it to another computer to see whether the hard drive is working normal?

The fact that the computer comes right back to where it was when you let the battery run down seems to indicate it was in hibernation. Did you sometimes use hibernation?

 

My $.05 ... See if you can do this (not sure if the keyboard action is tied to explorer.exe though) ...

Hold down the Windows Key and type R (Win+R) - you'll get the Run dialog..

You can either:

a. type & enter "explorer" to get the task bar back or...

b. Type & enter "cmd" to get the command prompt, and type and enter "shutdown /r" to restart your computer. Or enter "shutdown" and look at the options available to you.