When you are dealing with large amounts of data or processes that are very time hungry you sometimes need the ability to timeout that task and continue.

Here is a snippet of code that loops around that takes 1 second, and you can set a timeout to any time you like, but if it is less than 1 second, it will cancel the task and free up resources.

class Program
 {
 public static void Main()
 {
 int timeOutInMilliseconds = 450;
 var startTime = DateTime.Now;

var cTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();

// Create a cancellation token from CancellationTokenSource
 var cToken = cTokenSource.Token;
 // Create a task and pass the cancellation token
 var t1 = Task<int>.Factory.StartNew(() => GenerateNumbers(cToken), cToken);

// to register a delegate for a callback when a cancellation request is made
 cToken.Register(() => cancelNotification(cTokenSource));


 while (true)
 {
 if(t1.IsCompleted)
 { 
 Console.WriteLine("Finished Processing");
 break;
 }

if (DateTime.Now > startTime.AddMilliseconds(timeOutInMilliseconds))
 {
 Console.WriteLine("Timed out");
 cTokenSource.Cancel();
 break;
 }
 }

Console.WriteLine("finished");
 Console.ReadLine();
 }

private static Task HandleTimer(CancellationTokenSource cancellationTokenSource)
 {
 cancellationTokenSource.Cancel();
 Console.WriteLine("\nHandler not implemented...");
 return Task.Run(() => { var a = 0; });
 
 }

static int GenerateNumbers(CancellationToken cancellationTokenSource)
 {
 int i;
 for (i = 0; i < 10; i++)
 {
 Console.WriteLine("Method1 - Number: {0}", i);
 Thread.Sleep(100);

// poll the IsCancellationRequested property
 // to check if cancellation was requested
 if (cancellationTokenSource.IsCancellationRequested)
 break;
 }
 return i;
 }

// Notify when task is cancelled
 static void cancelNotification(CancellationTokenSource cancellationTokenSource)
 {
 cancellationTokenSource.Cancel();
 }
 }

Source: Parallel