How to Force Quit on the Mac

There is no worse thing that breaks a workflow than the feared spinning beach ball. With the freezing of an app, your whole Mac may come to a halt and you will be helpless. Luckily, there are a number of effective mechanisms of restoring control and returning to work in macOS. Knowing how to endpoint on the Mac is important to all users, and this tutorial will demonstrate all the ways, including the fastest keyboard shortcut and the most complex terminal key.

We will not only show you how to quit with force but we will also make you aware of the reasons why the applications freeze and what you can do to avoid the same situation in future.

Method 1: The Quickest Way – The Keyboard Shortcut

When a given application becomes unresponsive, the quickest and most straightforward method of closing it down is a straightforward keyboard shortcut. This will lead to the opening of the “Force Quit Applications” window that serves as a fast command center of your running applications.

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How to Use It:

• Simultaneously, press the following 3 keys with your keyboard: Option (⌥) + Command (⌘) + Esc.
• Another small window that will appear on your screen will have the title Force Quit Applications.
• The list will indicate the currently running applications. Locate the name of the app that does not respond, which will most probably include the (not responding) next to it.
• Tap the name of the app so that it is picked, and then tap the Force Quit button.
• A pop up confirmation box will appear. Click Force Quit one more time to create the confirmation.

The process of the application will automatically come to an end on your Mac. The best thing is that this is insanely effective as it does not follow the usual quitting procedure, which might not be accomplished by the app.

Method 2: The Menu Bar Approach

In case your favorite is the use of a mouse or a trackpad, you can also get the same functionality on the upper-left part of the screen.

How to Use It:

• Bring your cursor to the upper left hand corner of the screen and tap on the Apple logo in the menu bar.
• The drop-down menu has the choice of Force Quit…
• The Force quit applications window will be opened again.
• Click the Force Quit button and then the application that you wish to quit.

Method 3: The Dock Shortcut

It is a fast and easy way to do it in a frozen application that you can still view in your Dock. It is a contextual command that will save your fingers.

How to Use It:

• Click on the Dock of your lower right hand corner.
• Move your cursor upon the icon of the application to be terminated.
• Hold down the keyboard Option key.
• Right- click on the app icon when the option key is pressed.
• The regular Quit will be replaced with the Force Quit. Click this option.
• The application will automatically shut down. This has been the approach of choice to most Mac users, as it is so fast and simple.

Method 4: The Power User’s Tool – Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor is the equivalent of the Windows Task Manager and it can be thought of as Mac OS counterpart. It offers an in-depth view of all the processes that are working on your Mac, and these are applications and background services. Not only does this tool allow you to force quit, but it also assists you in determining what is the underlying cause of the issue in the first place.

How to Use It:

1. Activity Monitor can be opened in a number of ways:

• The next thing to do is to Open Spotlight Search (press Command ( ⌘ ) + Spacebar) and use the search query: Activity Monitor.
• Open the Activity Monitor by going to Applications utilities and clicking on it.

2. The Activity Monitor will appear and you will see five tabs on the top that are; CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk and Network. Click the “CPU” tab.

3. A list of all the individual processes that are running on your Mac will be displayed. To sort the list by the amount of processing power used by the processes, click on the column header that is labeled as the percentage CPU. The CPU usage may be very high in a frozen application.

4. Select the application that you would like to quit in the list.

5. You will need to choose the app and then choose the X in the upper-left part of the Activity Monitor window.

6. You will be presented with a dialog box that will inquire whether you want to quit or force quit. Choose “Force Quit”.

The tool of Activity Monitor also provides you with an important understanding of which applications are the largest resource hogs in your system, which you can prevent future freezes by closing them whenever they are not in use.

Method 5: The Advanced Method – Terminal

Terminal gives a highly powerful and explicit method of killing a process to those who are comfortable with the command line. This technique is usually the last resort in case other techniques fail.

How to Use It:

• You can open it through the Open Terminal in your Applications > Utilities folder or with the help of Spotlight Search.
• Enter the following command, but without the press of Enter, killall.
• Once the command is typed, be it one space and then the name of the application that one wishes to quit. To kill Safari for instance, you would type: Killall Safari.
• Press Enter. The command will make the application to exit.

Hint: To be more aggressive you can place -9 at the end of the command, so that the command will be killall -9 Safari. This sends a SIGKill signal which kills the process without any question and without hesitation. This solution, though, must be implemented with a lot of caution since it will not enable the app to store any unsaved data.

Why Apps Freeze

It is an excellent starting point to learn how to force quit the Mac but it is even more crucial to understand why your applications are freezing at all. In a study by Mac Experts, it was demonstrated that more than 70 percent of the application crashes are associated with just a few typical issues and victims may be averted by addressing them proactively.

• Low System Resources: The most widespread offender is the inability of available RAM or CPU power. The issue with having too many apps running simultaneously, particularly resource-hungry applications such as video editors or games, is that it may crash the memory of your Mac, and therefore freeze apps.
• Software Bugs: There is no flawless software. An application can sometimes have a bug which can lead it into an endless loop or it can stop halfway in an attempt to do something.
• Obsolete Applications: The developers update applications to include bugs or to enhance their functionality, or keep up with the most recent release of the macOS operating system. A very old application may not be compatible with a new update of macOS thus causing crashes.
• Corrupted Files: There are cases where the data files of an application may get corrupted. This may occur because of an abrupt power outage or an unfinished download, which would result in the crash of the app whenever it attempts to retrieve such data.
• Incompatible Peripherals: Occasionally, an external device such as a mouse, keyboard or even an external hard drive may lead to software conflicts resulting into an app freezing.

Best Practices & Troubleshooting

Quit Applications: It is always best to use the normal quit command ( Command + Q) before using the force quit command ( Command + Option ( G ). Normal quitting enables the app to save data and is able to close in a graceful manner.

• Check for Updates: Periodically check macOS either in System Settings or app updates in the App Store to be sure that you are using the most recent, most reliable versions.
• Restart Your Mac: Once you have forced a non responsive app to quit, or your whole system is no longer responsive, the next thing you have to do is restart your Mac. This will clear the temporary memory of your system and moreover it can fix a lot of underlying problems.
• Check Activity Monitor: It is advisable to regularly check Activity monitor to identify the apps that are consuming the highest resources. This consciousness can assist you to control your work load and avoid future slows down.

Conclusion

A frozen application does not necessarily make your day. With the ability to force quit on the Mac, you are equipped to deal with any hiccup in a software program in a short time and in an effective manner. You want plain keyboard shortcut, the visual convenience of the Dock, or the might of Activity Monitor, there is always something that will be within your reach.

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