Why do online exams make you close every other program?
Every major online exam delivery system requires your computer to run the exam software and nothing else, and most say so in plain language. Pearson VUE's OnVUE lists the ability to close all applications except OnVUE among its minimum requirements. ETS tells at-home candidates to close all browsers and applications not needed for the test. The Duolingo English Test's published policies say to close all programs other than its desktop app. ProctorU states you will not be permitted to test with remote-control software running on your computer.
The reason is structural. An online exam is proctored on a verified machine: the vendor delivers one exam to one computer, watches the screen and the room, and needs nothing else able to display, record, reach, or interfere with exam content. Every extra program is software the exam session cannot account for - so the rules treat a running background program the way they treat an extra monitor or a virtual machine: outside the verified environment.
This page covers the published picture in general terms: the exact rule each vendor publishes, which program categories the rules name, where in the exam-day journey the program rules get checked, what happens if a check fails, and the official preparation steps. Every claim comes from the official documentation of eight delivery systems and lockdown browsers: Pearson VUE OnVUE, ETS at home, ProctorU, the Duolingo English Test, PSI, Honorlock, Respondus, and Safe Exam Browser.
The rule each vendor publishes
Pearson VUE's OnVUE publishes the most compact version. Its program pages list minimum requirements - Windows 10 or macOS 14 or higher, a working webcam, microphone, and speaker with no headphones or headsets, one display screen only, a stable internet connection of at least 6 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload - and then one more line that covers this entire topic: the ability to close all applications except OnVUE. A prohibited-technology list sits alongside it, banning whole categories rather than naming targets: virtual machines or beta operating systems; mobile phones, tablets, headphones, earbuds, styluses, and watches; smart or connected devices with recording or AI features; secondary or touchscreen displays; and VPNs, corporate networks, or public or shared networks.
ETS writes the rule into its at-home test-day instructions. Close all browsers and applications not needed for the test - the page notes this helps prevent bandwidth issues - and make sure other household devices that use the internet, including streaming devices, are not running. Then the sharper instruction: disable any screen-sharing or remote-access software prior to the test. It must remain disabled throughout the test, and it should be set so that the software will not open automatically during the test. ETS's testing-rules list adds the writing-assistance and spell-check categories to the same disable instruction.
ProctorU's official equipment requirements state the rule as a hard gate: you will not be permitted to test with remote-control software running on your computer. The same article pairs the rule with the virtual-machine prohibition - you will be asked to reconnect using your host operating system - and notes that most ProctorU exams run in the vendor's Guardian Browser, with a test-it-out feature to check the computer you will use on exam day before it costs you a sitting.
The Duolingo English Test's published policies give the most explicit category list of any system in this series: close all programs other than the desktop app, including the browser, telecommunication, streaming, and remote-desktop categories. A separate line requires disabling software with predictive-text, proofreading, typing-suggestion, or reference functions, and using a standard input method - on a test whose score depends on your own writing, an assistive typing tool is itself outside the verified environment.
What a lockdown browser adds
A second family of systems does not only ask you to close everything - it enforces the closure itself during the session. Honorlock's BrowserGuard page describes the in-session layer: the software blocks and flags unauthorized websites, browser tabs, applications, and keyboard shortcuts while recording the test taker's desktop. It restricts access to other websites, browsers, and applications, disables keyboard shortcuts and functions, removes toolbar and menu options, and blocks and flags the ability to minimize the browser display screen.
Respondus publishes the same model for its LockDown Browser. Assessments are displayed full-screen and cannot be minimized; the browser prevents access to other applications across the messaging, screen-sharing, virtual-machine, and remote-desktop categories; printing and screen-capture functions are disabled; copying and pasting to or from an assessment is prevented; right-click menu options, function keys, keyboard shortcuts, and task switching are disabled; and an assessment cannot be exited until the student submits it for grading. Assessments set up for the lockdown browser cannot be opened with any other browser.
Safe Exam Browser, the open-source option used by universities and exam providers, publishes the same architecture in its overview: a kiosk application locks down the examination computer while a separate browser part connects to the exam server. Its published feature list states that process monitoring hides or terminates not-allowed processes while the software runs, that access to system functions, other websites, and applications is controlled, and that third-party applications run only when the exam configuration explicitly allows them. Three different vendors, one published shape: during the session, the exam software decides what the computer runs.
Which program categories the rules name
Read across the published rule lists and the same categories keep appearing. Browsers and any other window that could display content. Communication and meeting software - the telecommunication and messaging categories in the Duolingo and Respondus lists. Screen-sharing and remote-access software, which exports the machine's screen or its controls somewhere else. Streaming and screen-recording software. Writing-assistance software - predictive text, proofreading, typing suggestions, and reference functions. And virtual machines, which are covered in their own explainer in this series.
The lists also reach the machine's edges. OnVUE's prohibited-technology list covers smart or connected devices with recording or AI features, and VPNs or corporate and public or shared networks. ETS extends its instruction to other household devices that use the internet, including streaming devices. The Duolingo English Test requires a standard input method rather than an assistive one. The pattern is consistent: if a piece of software can display, record, transmit, assist, or relocate the exam session, the published rules place it outside the verified environment for the duration of the test.
What the rules never publish is the other half - how any given system identifies a prohibited program on your machine. No vendor in this series lists the processes, signatures, or thresholds its checks use, and this page does not speculate. The candidate-facing picture is complete without it: close everything, disable the categories the rules name, and prove the machine is clean with the vendor's own official check before exam day.
Why the rules exist: one machine, one exam
Every rule above sits inside one model: the verified environment. The delivery system certifies that the machine in front of you is a known quantity - a real computer, not a virtual machine, running one exam, on one screen, with nothing else executing. PSI's exam-experience page states the purpose plainly: once you access your exam, the session is monitored through screenshare, webcam, and microphone to ensure fairness and privacy protection - and its check-in tests your microphone and webcam to ensure no prohibited programs are running before the exam countdown can start.
Each named category threatens that model in a way the vendors publish openly. Communication and meeting software is a live channel to another person during a closed-book session. Screen-sharing and remote-access software exports the screen or the keyboard to somewhere the proctor cannot see - which is why ETS requires it disabled, kept disabled, and set so it cannot reopen on its own. Streaming and recording software copies exam content. Writing-assistance software does part of the measured work. A virtual machine makes the computer itself a simulation layered on another machine.
The two enforcement families split the work between you and the software. Rules-based systems - OnVUE, ETS, ProctorU, the Duolingo English Test, PSI - put the obligation on you before check-in and verify it at the door. Lockdown browsers - Honorlock's BrowserGuard, Respondus LockDown Browser, Safe Exam Browser - enforce the same state during the session by restricting what the computer can reach. Both families end at the same published condition: a computer running the exam and nothing else.
Where the program checks happen
The first checkpoint happens before exam day, and it is free. OnVUE requires candidates to run and pass its System Test on the same device and network they will use on exam day. ETS has candidates run the Equipment Check from inside the ETS Secure Browser, with failed parts shown as a red triangle status indicator with tips for resolving the problem - and advises running the check at several different times, at the same time of day as the test. PSI publishes a System Compatibility Check that is publicly available, and ProctorU points candidates to a test-it-out feature that checks the computer they will use on exam day.
The second checkpoint is check-in itself. OnVUE's check-in opens 30 minutes before the appointment and includes required technology checks. PSI's check-in tests your microphone and webcam to ensure no prohibited programs are running, and the exam countdown does not start until the security checks are passed and the exam is accessed. ETS states your equipment will be checked again right before you test, and the timer will not start until after your equipment is checked and you begin.
The third layer is the session itself. On a lockdown-browser exam the restriction is continuous: BrowserGuard blocks and flags unauthorized applications and records the desktop, Respondus prevents access to other applications until the assessment is submitted, and Safe Exam Browser's process monitoring hides or terminates not-allowed processes while it runs. On the rules-based systems the session is supervised instead - ETS states the entire test session is recorded and monitored by a human proctor watching both you and your computer screen, and PSI monitors through screenshare, webcam, and microphone for the duration.
If a program check fails
A failure at the pre-exam stage is the cheap version of this problem. ETS's Equipment Check shows you which parts failed and how to resolve them, and the rule is simply that all red issues must be resolved and the check passed before you can check in. The same logic holds for the OnVUE System Test, PSI's System Compatibility Check, and ProctorU's test-it-out feature: a prohibited-program flag days before the exam costs you an afternoon of cleanup, not a fee.
A failure on exam day is the expensive version, and the consequences are published. OnVUE warns before booking that failure to meet the minimum requirements on exam day can result in immediate exam cancellation and forfeiture of the exam fee, and states that if any requirement is not met at check-in, you cannot test and your fee will be forfeited. ETS states that candidates who do not meet the requirements on test day will not be able to test and will not receive a refund or a free reschedule. ProctorU's equipment article is equally plain: you will not be permitted to test with remote-control software running on your computer.
A violation found during the session is the most expensive version. ETS states that failure to follow the proctor's instructions means you will not be permitted to test and your test fee will not be refunded, and that violations of security procedures during the test or during a break may result in dismissal from the test and cancellation of your scores. OnVUE states that violations will result in your exam being revoked and your fee forfeited. The recoverable path is always the same one the vendors publish: close everything, disable what the rules name, re-run the official check until it passes, and only then sit the exam.
The situations candidates ask about
The employer-managed laptop is the most common edge case. Work machines often carry management software that reinstalls or reopens programs on its own schedule, and the published rule lists already steer you away from that setup: OnVUE's prohibited-technology list covers VPNs and corporate networks, and ETS warns that work, public, or university networks may block the required screen sharing, which can prevent you from testing. The vendors' published minimums describe a personal computer on a home network - that is the arrangement the checks are built to verify.
Software you rely on is the second edge case, and the published answer is process rather than improvisation. If you need assistive technology to test, the vendor's accommodation route is the sanctioned path - OnVUE's program pages direct candidates to request an accommodation for their exam booking in advance. What the rules do not offer is a self-approved exception: the Duolingo English Test's only allowed companion device is the one in its published setup - a phone camera capturing your head, shoulders, screen, and keyboard - and every other program on the machine still closes.
Software that reopens itself is the third. Updaters, sync tools, and background utilities can relaunch without you touching anything, and ETS's instruction covers exactly this case: the software must remain disabled throughout the test and should be set so that it will not open automatically during the test. The preparation checklist below is built around that requirement - a fresh restart, then nothing started except the exam software, is the only arrangement the published rules describe as safe.
The published preparation checklist
The vendors' own instructions converge on one routine. Restart the computer first - OnVUE suggests restarting to free system resources before exam day, and a fresh boot is the simplest way to start from nothing running. Then open only the exam software. Close every browser, every communication and meeting app, every streaming or recording tool, and every writing-assistance utility. Disable any screen-sharing or remote-access software and set it so it cannot reopen during the test, per ETS's instruction. Keep the rest of the household's devices off the network while you test.
Then prove it with the official check. Run OnVUE's System Test on the same device and network you will use on exam day. Run ETS's Equipment Check from inside the ETS Secure Browser - at the same time of day as your test, and again shortly before the session starts. Use PSI's publicly available System Compatibility Check, or ProctorU's test-it-out feature, on the machine you will actually sit with. Each check is published, free, and built to surface a prohibited-program problem while fixing it is still free.
If any check flags your setup, treat it as a pre-exam fix, not a test-day negotiation: close or disable what the rules name, restart, and run the check again until it passes. The exam-day versions of these checks - OnVUE's check-in technology checks, PSI's prohibited-programs step, ETS's equipment re-check right before the test - exist to confirm the state you already proved, not to discover it for the first time.
If the Sitting Itself Is the Problem
A close-everything rule is a solvable problem: the vendors publish the rules, the checks, and the consequences, and nothing in this page comes from anywhere but their own documentation. The harder problem is the exam on the other side of the checks - the proctored test itself, on a deadline, with a result that decides your next step.
That is the problem Exam Assist works on. If you have a proctored exam coming up and the sitting itself is the risk, send the exam, your window, and your deadline. You get an honest feasibility answer, and the service fee is due only after your result posts.
For more of this series in the same general-terms format, see our guides to why online exams block virtual machines, why online exams block extra monitors, what to expect at remote exam check-in, and the vendor overviews for Respondus LockDown Browser and Safe Exam Browser.