Most Windows users know that you can quickly fire up the Task Manager by right-clicking on the taskbar. If you’re lost and want to know where to find this tool and how to use it on Mac, this article is here to help. It delivers on the same premise but operates in a slightly different way. On macOS X, this tool is called the Activity Monitor. However, the classic “ Ctrl-Alt-Del ” shortcut doesn’t work on a Mac. It’s almost a knee-jerk reaction to open it as soon as you suspect that something is wrong. With the Task Manager, you can force quit apps (known as the “End Task” option on Windows) and see various consumption details.Ĭoming from Windows, I know that the Task Manager is an essential tool to identify issues or force quit apps. It’s a useful tool on Windows that allows you to see a plethora of information at once. One frequent thing new Mac users seem to look for is the Task Manager. Everything you know and love from Windows can be found on a Mac, just under a different name. If you’re in the same shoes as I was, don’t be afraid. Making the change wasn’t easy, as a lot of things are different on the macOS X system than any Windows I’ve seen before. In the dropdown menu, select 'Force Quit.Before I started using a Macbook, I was always a Windows user.In the far left, select the Apple logo to access the dropdown menu. Once you've identified the unresponsive app, locate the taskbar at the top of your screen.If the cursor resembles the rainbow spinning wheel, the app is unresponsive. If the cursor looks normal, the app is still responsive. If you have multiple apps open, the simplest way to indicate the unresponsive app is to look at the cursor. First, identify the app that is unresponsive.How to force quit on Mac from the Apple menu However, when using the force quit feature it is important to know that if your work isn't saved, you may lose it when force quitting a frozen application like Microsoft Word or any web browser. The simplest thing to do when faced with the spinning wheel is to force quit the frozen application.įorce quit is a feature that effectively shuts down the unresponsive application. Sometimes, though, you don't know how long that will take. When an application isn't responding how it normally would, you could wait until your screen unfreezes.

Mac users will tell you there are few things more frustrating than the spinning rainbow wheel - also known as the wait cursor, which signifies your computer is struggling to handle its current tasks.

Shortcut to force quit app on macc