How to stop a Thread is a perannual question for Java programmers. Finally with the release of Java V5.0 (or V1.5), which incorporates java.util.concurrent, a definitive answer can be given. The answer is you stop a thread by using interrupt(). This article covers some of the background to stopping threads and the suggested alternatives and discusses why interrupt() is the answer. It also discusses interrupting blocking I/O and what else the programmer needs to do to ensure their threads and tasks are stoppable.