This will pull up a list of all your currently running processes. When Terminal is running, type top and hit Return. Launch Terminal (Finder > Applications > Utilities). You can also force processes to quit from Terminal. If it’s an application, it will remain shut down until you reopen it. If this process is critical to your Mac, it will restart. This will force the process to quit, freeing up the resources it was using up.
HOW TO QUIT PROGRAMS ON MAC MAC
If your Mac is slowing down or acting up, it may be because an application or program that’s running in the background is malfunctioning.
HOW TO QUIT PROGRAMS ON MAC HOW TO
You can also consider browsing online for a trusted third-party data recovery application to prevent data losses.Mac Help Desk Optimization How to kill background processes on Mac? The best option would involve checking the Time Machine backup. Hence, the possibility of retrieving unsaved data is low for such applications. Although some applications like MS Office have in-built data recovery features, it's not the same for all Mac apps. Force Quit Data Loss – How to Recover Unsaved Data?īeyond understanding how to force quit on Mac, learning data recovery of unsaved files after a forced quit is essential. Press and hold down the Control + Command + Power keys. What to do when force quit doesn't work?Ī forced Mac restart is the solution where the different Force Quit methods seem not to work. Yes, force quitting can cause data loss if previous progress was not saved before the app froze or became unresponsive. The Quit option should now change to Force Quit.įAQs about Force Quit on Mac 1. Press and hold down the Option key on the keyboard. Right-click the desktop icon of the misbehaving app in the Dock. This part teaches how to force quit on Mac from the Dock. A dialogue box appears asking, "Are you sure you want to quit this process?". There is an X button at the top-left corner of the Activity Monitor window.
Scroll through and select the application you want to force quit. Another window opens with a list of all active app processes. Again, lovers of shortcut keys can press Command + Shift + U.
Check through the folders and open the one named Utilities. An alternative is to check the left sidebar of the Finder environment.
After opening Finder, press Command + Shift + A keys to open the Applications folder. There are two ways to do this: click the desktop and press the Command + N keys, or select the half-white, half-blue icon in your Dock. It displays all the processes currently running on your Mac with details such as memory usage, disk activity, network, etc. The Activity Monitor is in the Applications> Utilities folder. This how-to force quit on Mac method is very simple and effective. This section covers additional ways how to force quit on Mac ways. Locate the unresponsive app and select it. Hold down the Command + Option + Esc keys (cmd) + Tab keys to open the Force Quit window. We use command keys instead of the previous method, as explained below. Severe app freezes where the mouse fails to respond can warrant learning how to force quit on Mac using keyboard shortcuts. Shortcut tip: A faster way to open the Force Quit Applications window is by pressing Command + Option + Escape keys together. Confirm the targeted app and click on the Force Quit button on the bottom right side. Frozen/unresponsive apps have a Not Responding message next to them. From the dropdown menu, choose the Force Quit option. See how to force quit on Mac when an app is frozen:
A quick solution is to force quit from the menu bar. Force Quit Apps when FrozenĪ frozen app is one that fails to respond to normal commands such as quit. But if the app is taking forever to work smoothly, you might have to shut it down forcefully. Force quitting implies that all unsaved work is likely to be lost. We sometimes recommend that Mac users wait to see if the application will unfreeze with time. However, confirm that the application will not close the usual way before force quitting. Even with the best Mac applications, situations like that can occur, and a "Force Quit" is necessary. Learn how to force quit on Mac when apps become unresponsive, freeze, hang, and fail to close normally.
HOW TO QUIT PROGRAMS ON MAC FULL
Full stepsĪpps Unresponsive? Force Quit on Mac when Frozen