Close the program on the MacBook: task manager. How to end a process on a Mac. Close the program on a MacBook: task manager Ctrl alt del on a mac keyboard windows

Having switched from Windows to macOS, the first thing that catches your eye is the absence of the usual Cntrl + Alt + Delete. macOS has its own version of the task manager, which is called by the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Esc.

The Windows Task Manager contains a lot of information and functions, which makes it look overloaded. Apple has decided to split these features into multiple apps. “Force Quit Programs” (Command + Option + Esc) will help close frozen applications. Detailed information about running applications and the consumption of system resources is collected in the System Monitoring utility.

Close a frozen application using Command + Option + Esc

The Command + Option + Esc key combination is ideal for force quitting a frozen application, as well as for programs that run in full screen mode, such as games. In addition to the keyboard shortcut, the Force Quit window can be called up from the Apple menu. In the menu bar, click on the apple icon, then select “Force Quit” from the list.

There is another way to force termination - by pressing Option + Ctrl, you need to click on the application icon in the dock, or while holding down the Option key, right-click on the icon. From the drop-down menu you need to select “Force Quit”.

We look at additional information using “System Monitoring”

The Force Quit application closes non-working or frozen applications, but it does not display information about processor load or amount of RAM. To access this information you need to use System Monitoring.

There are several ways to launch System Monitor: from the Finder in the Applications folder, through Quick Access from Launchpad, or by typing “Monitoring” into Spotlight search. The utility window displays a list of all running applications and system processes. At the top there are five sections divided by system resources: “CPU” (processor), “Memory” (RAM), “Energy”, “Disk” (hard drive storage) and “Network” (network traffic).

Using the monitoring utility, you can forcefully terminate applications or processes. To close, you need to select an application or process in the list, then click the icon with a cross in the upper left corner.

Managing application startup

The Windows Task Manager has a section for managing startup applications. macOS has a similar tool, but it's located in the system menu.

To get to the section for managing autorun, open the Apple menu (apple icon in the menu bar), then you need to go to “System Preferences” and select the “Users and Groups” section, and then open “Login Items”. Applications marked with a checkmark automatically launch when you log in; to disable autorun, you need to uncheck the box.

No doubt most people who’ve switched to Mac computers from the PC world are familiar with the CTRL + ALT + DEL command. It’s used to bring up the task manager, and when pressed twice will reboot the computer.

How do I use CTRL + ALT + DEL on a Mac computer?

The Mac equivalent of CTRL + ALT + DEL is Command + Option + Escape.

Hold down the CTRL and Option keys (located on either side of the space bar) then press the Escape key. This will bring up the Force Quit window showing a list of your open applications. Choose one and press the Force Quit button to immediately end that application.

You can also force a hanging application to quit by right-clicking (CTRL + Click) on its icon in the Dock and choosing “Force Quit” from the context menu.

What about rebooting?

Macs have a separate key combination to force a reboot: Command-Option-Power. Hold down the Command and Option keys then press the power button to restart the computer.

To force the computer to shut down, hold down the power button for between 5 and 10 seconds.

Forcing a reboot or a shutdown is not advised unless there is no other option. Performing these actions can result in data loss, especially if there are applications running or external storage devices connected. You should first try to correctly reboot or shut down the computer:

The only thing worse than unexpectedly crashing applications are those that stop responding to external stimuli in the face of a user desperately pressing buttons, but continue to function, consuming resources and filling up the RAM with digital garbage. Luckily for us, there are at least 5 methods to combat this problem.

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How to close a frozen program on MacOS

Method number 1 - hot buttons

Combination of ⌘Command + ⌥Option (Alt) + Esc opens a window for forcing the termination of running programs. The list presented shows the currently running applications, the space on the right is usually empty. If in any line there is an inscription “not responding”, feel free to click on it, highlighting the frozen program. In difficult cases, there may not be an inscription - you will have to call on intuition and observation to help identify the troublemaker.

The only button on the bottom right leaves no alternatives; all we can do is emergency close the selected application. Let's try. But usually we do it easier, as long as we remain within the window of the frozen program, we use a more complex combination of hot buttons ⌘Command + ⌥Option (Alt) + ⇧Shift+ Esc. Hold them down for three long seconds and OS X will automatically close this window.

Method number 2 - using the Apple menu ()

At the very top of the desktop, in the far left corner, there is a magic icon in the form of the company logo , which opens access to the basic functions of the system - in case of a problem, click on it.

In the drop-down menu, approximately in the middle, there is a line “ Force quit", that's what we need. And then a familiar window opens with a list of currently running applications - you already know what to do, the buggy enemy will be promptly defeated.

Method number 3 - force closing the program from the Dock

Find the shortcut for the frozen program on the bottom panel (in the Dock) and press the button ⌥Option (Alt) and right-click with the mouse - a special service menu will open.

One of the items in the menu that opens is the same forced termination; further steps are obvious.

Method number 4 - use the Terminal

The transition from a window interface to a console interface, a more complex level of interaction with macOS in case the problem turned out to be serious and the previous methods did not bring results. The program is located in the system utilities directory - find it and run it. In the window that opens, type the command “ top” and press the enter key - this is how we instruct the computer to generate and display a short report about its current state. Including reporting on what programs are running and how they behave.

Among the variety of symbols, we are interested in the column entitled “ Command", the names of currently running applications are printed here. You need to manually find the stuck one, and it’s worth considering that abbreviations are used for long names—attentiveness will not hurt.

Next to the name of the program you are looking for there is its digital number PID(system identifier) - this is what we need. In the old fashioned way, we copy it into a notepad or, keeping up with the times, take a photo with an iPhone camera.

Press the key " q"- this command closes the list and moves the cursor to an empty line, the system is ready to receive new instructions and deal with the problematic application.

This is done with the loud command “ kill", after which, separated by a space, you should write the PID of the intruder. In this case, these are Viber and 403, so the final version looks like “kill 403”.

Click " Enter" - the job is done, but if the system does not respond, you can tighten the order by typing the following command " sudo kill -9 403", should help.

Method No. 5 – using the System Monitoring utility

In this case, this system tool for advanced users can be perceived simply as an expanded version of the menu with a list of running programs. The utility icon is located in the same place as Terminal– find and launch the program.

The extensive list that opens should not frighten you, look for it in the column “ Process name"our frozen application and select it with a mouse click.

At the top and left there is a button " End the process” - this is exactly what it does, unloading software from memory and freeing up system resources on the Mac.

On MacOS, you encounter certain inconveniences while using your computer. Which is quite natural, because the differences are quite significant. Familiar menu elements, functions, modes and options - everything is not the same as before. It’s not difficult to figure all this out, it’s just a matter of time. One of the most used and useful Windows utilities is the well-known Task Manager. Of course, the need for such an application often arises among MacOS users. In this article we will figure out how to open the task manager on a Mac, what utility replaces it and how to use it. Let's get started. Go!

For those who switched from Windows to Mac

First of all, it should be noted that Apple developers did not provide a full-fledged analogue of the Task Manager, however, they implemented a somewhat simplified version of this utility, which is called “Force Quit Programs”. Unfortunately, it does not have the range of functions that the application has in Windows, but it does an excellent job of its direct task - forcefully ending programs and processes.

Minimalistic process completion dialog

Getting into the program window is just as easy. To do this, use the key combination command+option(alt)+esc. After this, a utility window will open in front of you, in which you can see a list of running processes. It's very easy to work with. Select the required process and click the “Finish” button.

Force Quit Programs window

Using the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + Escape, we make the “Force Quit Application” window appear, after which we select the “End” item to close the program. The operation performed is a more simplified version of the command in System Monitoring, which allows you to free several processes from memory at once.

Force termination of a program from the Dock

You need to perform the following combination: move the cursor over the icon in the Dock and, holding ALT (Option) on the keyboard, click the mouse. As a result, the frozen application will be forcibly closed, without additional confirmation.

Force quitting an app from the Apple menu

Hold down the Shift key on your keyboard and click on the Apple logo in the top menu bar. Now select the command “Finish “...” forcibly”. This method is the easiest to remember. However, it happens that the computer does not react in any way to pressing these keys.

Using System Monitoring

To launch the System Monitor system utility, press the Command + Space key combination and enter the name of the program in the Spotlight window. After the dialog box appears, we find the “frozen” application either by name (as a rule, tasks that are immune to the effects are marked in red) or by identification number (ID), and then click “End process”. This method of unloading unnecessary software from memory is very similar to that used in Windows, only instead of System Monitor there is Task Manager.

Using the Terminal to unload processes

If none of the above methods helped you, the most effective method in this situation is to use the command line. Launch Terminal and enter one of the following commands:

Killall [process name]

For example, with the “killall Safari” command you will kill all processes associated with the Internet browser. And if you know the ID of the open application, which can be found using the “ps” or “ps aux” commands, you can unload the “frozen” program in the following way:

Kill -9 , where 9 is the aforementioned ID parameter.

You should be extremely careful when taking actions aimed at forcibly closing programs. Any termination of processes may cause the operating system to crash. And if you also work with the command line, this can lead to the loss of unsaved data and system settings failure.

Sometimes an unpleasant situation occurs when Mac OS X programs stop responding to keystrokes or mouse presses - “freezing”. Fortunately, this happens quite rarely, but if you have ever encountered such a problem (and I’m sure that at least once in your life you have encountered such a problem), then you will probably be interested and useful to learn about several ways how this “frozen” application can be terminated.

1 Force Quit via Apple Menu.
Hold down the Shift key ⇧ click menu Apple () and in the drop-down menu find the command “Force quit [program name]”- this is that treasured menu item that allows you to “kill” an unresponsive program.

2 Force exit via the Dock menu.
While holding down the Alt ⌥ key, right-click on the frozen program icon (which you want to close)- a menu will appear containing the item “ Force quit" Selecting this menu item will forcefully terminate the program.

3 Forced exit via hotkey combination.
The keyboard shortcut Alt ⌥ + Cmd ⌘ + Esc opens the “ Forced termination of programs" The window that appears lists all open programs. Select the frozen program, and then click on the " Complete" An active frozen application can be forcibly terminated using another keyboard shortcut, bypassing the list. To do this, use the keyboard shortcut Alt ⌥ + Shift ⇧ + Cmd ⌘ + Esc.

4 Forced exit through “System Monitoring”.
System utility System monitoring provides information about CPU, memory and network usage. In addition, through it you can also very quickly “kill” any system process, and not only that. This is done like this: select the “hung” process from the list and click on the big red button “ End the process" After this, a dialog box will appear confirming your actions.

5 Force shutdown of an application using the Terminal.
If all the steps described above do not help, then you still have the opportunity to terminate the frozen application through the command line. To do this, run the utility Terminal and run the following command:

Killall [process name]

A live example for forcing a program to terminate " Calculator" will look like this:

Killall Calculator

Please note that the process name or application name is case sensitive, so Calculator And calculator- these are different things. Don't forget that the team killall works at the system level and its thoughtless execution can lead to the loss of unsaved data since automatic saving will not work in this case.

Attention! Use these methods only in emergency situations, when you are sure that the application is really hopelessly frozen. All of the above methods of forcing programs to terminate immediately “kill” the process without the ability to auto-save data. Keep in mind that all information not saved while the program is running will be lost.

Almost all OS X applications work well and do not cause problems. They can be left open for months, and thanks to the UNIX platform inside the OS X operating system itself, they will work stably. However, there are situations when something goes wrong: the application may freeze or simply behave strangely. In such cases, you can quickly terminate it using various methods.

Quickly shut down an application from the Dock

While holding down the ⌥ key, right-click the application icon in the Dock and select Force Quit.

In a similar way, you can quickly restart the Finder by holding ⌥, right-clicking the Finder icon and selecting Restart.

Force Quitting OS X Applications

If quitting via the Dock is not an option, for example when you are playing a game in full screen mode, then you can press the key combination ⌘ + ⌥ + ESC to display the Force Quit Applications window. In this case, the active (or hung) application will already be selected, so to quickly end it all you have to do is press Enter twice.

Terminate applications or processes through System Monitor

By launching the System Monitor application, you will see all the currently running processes. Select the unwanted application or process and click the red End process button. System Monitoring allows you to use a filter to search for the required process; this is very convenient, since not all running applications can run in the background, without displaying a graphical interface.

In any unclear situation, press Ctrl+Alt+Del – this postulate has been guiding users of the Windows operating system for decades. However, with the transition to macOS, this principle loses its relevance; what should you do if programs freeze and other troubles?

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If you recently switched from Windows to Mac and your program freezes, your first reaction is to press a keyboard shortcut . But this shortcut does not work on Mac – although macOS, of course, has similar functionality. So what should you press?

Let's begin with in Windows 10 - not the best shortcut. Why? The thing is that it doesn't take you directly to the Task Manager, where you can try to close the broken program. Instead, you will see a menu with a variety of options - exit to the lock screen, change user, log out of account, change password...

The program is frozen, how to close it on Mac (Force shutdown)

You can use a keyboard shortcut to close any program on macOS ⌘Cmd + Q. Another thing is that if the application is not working, this command will not have any effect.

macOS differs from the Microsoft platform in its stability, but Cupertino developers, of course, cannot ensure absolute uninterrupted operation of the system. If you use the correct operating software, emergency situations are rare, but you should not unplug your computer every time an application stops responding.

Apple has developed a special utility for such cases called Forced termination of programs. You can get to it using the shortcut ⌘Cmd + ⌥Option (Alt) + Esc. Working with it is very simple - just click on the name of the “frozen” program (most likely, “not responding” will be written next to it) and press the button Complete in the lower right corner.

This is the easiest way to deal with frozen programs, so we strongly recommend that you remember the corresponding shortcut.

You may also find it useful:

If you cannot shut down the program in this way, you can use the operating system management menu, which is called up by the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Eject. There are options here to turn off the computer, restart it, and go to sleep.

However, you can completely return to the usual Ctrl + Alt + Del from Windows using a free utility called “ Ctrl Alt Delete" After installing it, pressing the appropriate keys brings up the dialog box shown in the screenshot below.

As you can see, it contains a list of active applications, as well as buttons for emergency and normal shutdown of their work. If the system freezes completely, you can shut down, restart or put the computer into sleep mode, or end the session for the current user.

The macOS analogue of the Manager is called Activity monitoring. It collects information about the operation of the central processor, RAM, network, disk and energy consumption of individual applications.

The easiest way to start Activity monitoring– find it through Spotlight search. To do this, click on the magnifying glass icon in the upper right corner of the screen or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘Cmd + Space(Sometimes CTRL + Space). It is not necessary to type the entire name; Spotlight will understand what you mean after you press the letter “M”.

For those who switched from Windows to Mac

Minimalistic process completion dialog

Keyboard shortcut to launch the utility

If you need to monitor running services and processes, then you will have to use another MacOS application called “System Monitor”. In it you will be able to monitor the main parameters of the system, including:

Information about hard drives;

Energy consumption level of active applications.

The OS asks you to confirm the action

To launch the System Monitor utility, you need to go to the search window, which can be called up by pressing the command + spacebar key combination, and then enter the name of the application.

As you can see, despite the fact that Apple computers do not have a full-fledged analogue of the Windows Task Manager, the necessary functions are available in the “System Monitor” and “Force Quit Programs” utilities. The combination of these two applications will give you the same capabilities for monitoring parameters and working with processes. Write in the comments whether this article helped you, and ask any questions you have on the topic.