diff --git a/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_default_platform.go b/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_default_platform.go
index 5ea872c8c..3d7eae481 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_default_platform.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_default_platform.go
@@ -5,8 +5,10 @@ package oscommands
 
 import (
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"runtime"
 	"strings"
+	"syscall"
 )
 
 func GetPlatform() *Platform {
@@ -38,3 +40,11 @@ func getUserShell() string {
 func (c *OSCommand) UpdateWindowTitle() error {
 	return nil
 }
+
+func TerminateProcessGracefully(cmd *exec.Cmd) error {
+	if cmd.Process == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return cmd.Process.Signal(syscall.SIGTERM)
+}
diff --git a/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_windows.go b/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_windows.go
index 0c69ca685..605ed7682 100644
--- a/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_windows.go
+++ b/pkg/commands/oscommands/os_windows.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package oscommands
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
 )
 
@@ -22,3 +23,8 @@ func (c *OSCommand) UpdateWindowTitle() error {
 	argString := fmt.Sprint("title ", filepath.Base(path), " - Lazygit")
 	return c.Cmd.NewShell(argString, c.UserConfig().OS.ShellFunctionsFile).Run()
 }
+
+func TerminateProcessGracefully(cmd *exec.Cmd) error {
+	// Signals other than SIGKILL are not supported on Windows
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/pkg/tasks/tasks.go b/pkg/tasks/tasks.go
index 27fcf817b..5c5875fa8 100644
--- a/pkg/tasks/tasks.go
+++ b/pkg/tasks/tasks.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/gocui"
+	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/commands/oscommands"
 	"github.com/jesseduffield/lazygit/pkg/utils"
 	"github.com/sasha-s/go-deadlock"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
@@ -165,6 +166,17 @@ func (self *ViewBufferManager) NewCmdTask(start func() (*exec.Cmd, io.Reader), p
 				// and the user is flicking through a bunch of items.
 				self.throttle = time.Since(startTime) < THROTTLE_TIME && timeToStart > COMMAND_START_THRESHOLD
 
+				// Kill the still-running command. The only reason to do this is to save CPU usage
+				// when flicking through several very long diffs when diff.algorithm = histogram is
+				// being used, in which case multiple git processes continue to calculate expensive
+				// diffs in the background even though they have been stopped already.
+				//
+				// Unfortunately this will do nothing on Windows, so Windows users will have to live
+				// with the higher CPU usage.
+				if err := oscommands.TerminateProcessGracefully(cmd); err != nil {
+					self.Log.Errorf("error when trying to terminate cmd task: %v; Command: %v %v", err, cmd.Path, cmd.Args)
+				}
+
 				// close the task's stdout pipe (or the pty if we're using one) to make the command terminate
 				onDone()
 			}