diff --git a/etc/profile.d/help50.sh b/etc/profile.d/help50.sh
index 3d21308..13684c8 100644
--- a/etc/profile.d/help50.sh
+++ b/etc/profile.d/help50.sh
@@ -55,8 +55,15 @@ function _help50() {
     # https://tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/exitcodes.html
     if [[ $status -ne 0 && $status -ne 130 && $status -ne 148 ]]; then
 
-        # Read typescript from disk
-        local typescript=$(cat $HELP50)
+        # Read typescript from disk, bounded: at most the first 64K (where the command line is
+        # echoed) and the last 1M (where errors tend to be), so that a program that printed a
+        # great deal before failing doesn't stall the prompt while the whole file is read
+        local typescript
+        if [[ $(stat -c %s "$HELP50" 2> /dev/null || echo 0) -gt $((65536 + 1048576)) ]]; then
+            typescript=$(head -c 65536 "$HELP50"; echo; echo "[... output omitted ...]"; tail -c 1048576 "$HELP50")
+        else
+            typescript=$(cat "$HELP50")
+        fi
 
         # Remove script's own output (if this is user's first command)
         typescript=$(echo "$typescript" | sed '1{/^Script started on .*/d}')
@@ -110,10 +117,14 @@ function _help50() {
             typescript="$after_first"
         fi
 
-        # Try to get help
+        # Try to get help, giving each helper a few seconds at most, lest a slow or stuck helper stall
+        # the prompt. Note that timeout runs the helper in its own process group, so ctl-c at the
+        # terminal no longer reaches the helper (it did before); the timeout itself is the bound.
+        # Not --foreground, which would restore ctl-c but stop timeout from killing the helper's
+        # children, so an orphaned child holding stdout open could stall the prompt indefinitely.
         for helper in $HELPERS/*; do
             if [[ -f $helper && -x $helper ]]; then
-                local help=$($helper $argv <<< "$typescript")
+                local help=$(timeout -k 1 5 $helper $argv <<< "$typescript")
                 if [[ -n "$help" ]]; then
                     break
                 fi
diff --git a/opt/cs50/bin/help50 b/opt/cs50/bin/help50
index 2bf77d3..f296249 100755
--- a/opt/cs50/bin/help50
+++ b/opt/cs50/bin/help50
@@ -5,6 +5,18 @@ function _disable() {
 }
 
 function _is-enabled() {
+
+    # Kill switch: set in the environment (e.g., an organization-wide Codespaces secret) to
+    # turn help50 off for everyone at their next login, without rebuilding an image. Values
+    # that read as false (0, false, no, off) count as unset, so that setting the secret to 0
+    # re-enables help50 just as deleting it would, rather than silently keeping it off
+    case "${HELP50_DISABLED,,}" in
+        ""|0|false|no|off) ;;
+        *)
+            echo "disabled (HELP50_DISABLED=$HELP50_DISABLED; unset it to re-enable)"
+            return 1
+            ;;
+    esac
     if [[ -f /tmp/help50.lock ]]; then
         echo disabled
         return 1
diff --git a/tests/smoke.sh b/tests/smoke.sh
index c8511cf..3431339 100755
--- a/tests/smoke.sh
+++ b/tests/smoke.sh
@@ -54,6 +54,49 @@ run "$IMAGE" bash --login -c '
     test "$(cat /tmp/cmd)" = ./slow || exit 1
 '
 
+echo "- the prompt hook stays fast after a failed command printed a huge amount of output"
+run "$IMAGE" bash --login -c '
+    export HELP50=$(mktemp)
+    _helpless() { printf "%s" "$1" > /tmp/output; }
+    . /etc/profile.d/help50.sh
+
+    # 35 MB (4 million lines) of output, then an error, as script(1) records it.
+    # Reading the whole file into a variable took ~2.4 s here and scaled linearly.
+    { printf "$ ./huge\r\n"; seq 1 4000000 | sed "s/$/\r/"; printf "Error: boom\r\n"; } > "$HELP50"
+    size=$(stat -c %s "$HELP50")
+    set -o history; history -s ./huge; set +o history
+    start=$(date +%s%N); false; _help50; elapsed=$(( ($(date +%s%N) - start) / 1000000 ))
+    echo "  hook took ${elapsed} ms for a ${size}-byte typescript"
+    test "$elapsed" -lt 1000 &&
+    test "$(tail -n 1 /tmp/output)" = "Error: boom" || exit 1
+'
+
+echo "- a helper that hangs cannot stall the prompt"
+run --user root "$IMAGE" bash --login -c '
+    printf "#!/bin/bash\ncat > /dev/null\nsleep 60\n" > /opt/cs50/lib/help50/zz_hang && chmod 755 /opt/cs50/lib/help50/zz_hang
+    su ubuntu -c "bash --login -c '"'"'
+        export HELP50=\$(mktemp); . /etc/profile.d/help50.sh
+        printf \"\$ ./x\\r\\nsome error\\r\\n\" > \"\$HELP50\"
+        set -o history; history -s ./x; set +o history
+        start=\$(date +%s); false; _help50; elapsed=\$(( \$(date +%s) - start ))
+        echo \"hook took \${elapsed} s with a hung helper\"; test \"\$elapsed\" -lt 15
+    '"'"'"
+'
+
+echo "- HELP50_DISABLED in the environment keeps help50 from starting, and says so"
+run "$IMAGE" bash --login -c 'help50 is-enabled | grep -qx enabled'
+run --env HELP50_DISABLED=1 "$IMAGE" bash --login -c '
+    out=$(help50 is-enabled); test $? -eq 1 && [[ "$out" == *HELP50_DISABLED=1* && "$out" == *unset* ]] || exit 1'
+# Values that read as false count as unset, so that setting the secret to 0 re-enables help50, as deleting it would
+for value in 0 false FALSE no off ""; do
+    run --env HELP50_DISABLED="$value" "$IMAGE" bash --login -c 'help50 is-enabled | grep -qx enabled'
+done
+# The lock file (help50 disable) is still honored when the environment doesn't disable
+run --env HELP50_DISABLED=0 "$IMAGE" bash --login -c 'help50 disable && ! help50 is-enabled && help50 enable && help50 is-enabled' > /dev/null
+# In an interactive shell on a pty (script provides one), help50 starts by default but not when disabled
+run "$IMAGE" bash -c 'echo "help50 status; exit" | script -qc "bash --login -i" /dev/null' | grep -q '^started'
+run --env HELP50_DISABLED=1 "$IMAGE" bash -c 'echo "help50 status; exit" | script -qc "bash --login -i" /dev/null' | grep -q '^stopped'
+
 echo "- help50 COMMAND runs COMMAND, with its exit status"
 run "$IMAGE" bash --login -c 'help50 true && ! help50 false && test "$(help50 echo x)" = x'
 run "$IMAGE" bash --login -c 'help50 valgrind python x.py < /dev/null; test $? -eq 1' 2>&1 | grep -q 'does not support Python'