MAC-Activity-Monitor.txt  10/9/2020  0344

If you’re a veteran of Windows, you’re probably familiar with using
Task Manager to deal with applications that freeze or checking memory
usage. On a Mac, those tasks fall to a Force Quit dialog or a utility
called Activity Monitor, which has shipped with every version of Mac
OS X and macOS since 2000. Here’s how to use them

Where’s the ‘Task Manager’ on a Mac?

If you’re a veteran of Windows, you’re probably familiar with using Task
Manager to deal with applications that freeze or checking memory usage.

On a Mac, those tasks fall to a Force Quit dialog or a utility called
Activity Monitor, which has shipped with every version of Mac OS X and
macOS since 2000. Here’s how to use them.

https://www.howtogeek.com/686337/wheres-the-task-manager-on-a-mac/

Terminating Stubborn Programs with “Force Quit”

If you’re familiar with pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete on a Windows PC to
kill a stubborn program, you’ll be glad to know that a similar three-
finger combo exists on the Mac. When a program becomes unresponsive,
simply press Command+Option+Esc to open the “Force Quit Applications”
dialog.

A window will pop up that lists currently running apps. To close a
stubborn one that refuses to quit normally, select it from the list,
and click the “Force Quit” button.

After asking for confirmation, macOS will close the application you
selected. Very handy.

RELATED: What's the Equivalent of Ctrl+Alt+Delete on a Mac?
Troubleshooting with More Detail: Activity Monitor

If you have a deeper system resource issue to look into on a Mac, such
as memory consumption or detailed information on a particular app or
process, you’ll want to use Activity Monitor. By default, Activity
Monitor lives in a folder called “Utilities” within your Applications
folder on your Mac.

One of the fastest ways to open Activity Monitor is by using Spotlight.
To open “Spotlight,” click the small “magnifying glass” icon in your
menu bar (or press Command+Space)

When the “Spotlight Search” bar appears, type “activity monitor,” and
hit “Return.” Or you can click the “Activity Monitor.app” icon in the
Spotlight results.

Once the “Activity Monitor” window opens, you will see a list of all
the processes running on your Mac, similar to this:

Using the five tabs across the top of the window, you can visit displays
that show information on running processes sorted by CPU usage (“CPU”),
memory usage (“Memory”), energy usage (“Energy”), disk usage (“Disk”),
and network usage (“Network”). Click the tab corresponding to the
section you’d like to visit.

At any time while listing processes, you can select a process from the list,
and click the “Stop” button (which looks like an octagon with an “x” inside
it) to force it to quit, or click the “Inspect” button (an “i” in a circle)
to see more information about the process.

And if you’re overwhelmed by the number of processes listed, you can narrow
them down using the “View” menu up in the menu bar. For example, you could
select “My Processes,” to see only a list of processes associated with your
user account.

Click the "View" menu in Activity Monitor to narrow the list of processes.

You can also search for a process using the search bar in the upper-right
corner of the window. Just type in the name of the app or process you’re
looking for, and it will appear in the list (if it is currently running).

Activity Monitor is very handy, so take some time to explore it, and
you’ll become that much more adept at using it to troubleshoot your Mac.
Have fun!

RELATED: How to Troubleshoot Your Mac With Activity Monitor