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Have you ever been in a situation wherein you were leisurely listening to a chill music, watching a new episode of your favorite TV series, or frantically adding finishing touches to your art document on your Mac just to reach your deadline when the app you are currently using stopped working and it won’t properly reboot? I know, it’s frustrating, and it happens. What is even more frustrating is that you need to start over, wasting your time and energy. This happens to any type of device and it can even happen to a reliable device like Mac. So what do you do if the Mac application you’re using suddenly stops responding? How do you close an app that won’t quit normally?
- Press these three keys together: Option, Command and Esc (Escape). Or choose Force Quit from the Apple menu in the top left-hand corner of your screen. (This is similar to pressing Control-Alt-Delete on a PC.) Then select the app in the Force Quit window and click Force Quit.
- Mac OS X: One of Mac's most confusing features is the red close button, which you think would shut down an application but often doesn't. RedQuits is a free utility that closes applications when.
- If you can’t turn off the agent through the app and can’t find the daemon on your hard drive, you can remove it from launchctl directly. However, if the app is still installed on your Mac, it will likely be reinstalled on next launch. So, in general, you want to remove processes after uninstalling the application.
Why Do Applications Stop Responding?
Sometimes users face the issue of non-responding applications. Some apps suddenly stop responding to user commands but they continuously consume system resources. In that case, force quitting that application is the best option. So here’s how you can force quit an app on Mac.
The best way to close an app is by choosing Quit from the app’s menu. Another way to close an app is by pressing Command + Q but sometimes when we’re running multiple apps, the screen would somehow freeze and the applications would stop responding to the quit command. There are several reasons why apps stop responding and it could be one or a combination of these reasons:
- Background apps stopped working. This happens when the apps that are running in the background encountered a glitch and stopped working. These background apps are automatically launched when you start your Mac. You can prevent this scenario by customizing your startup options and disabling the apps that you don’t need.
- Too many applications and processes are simultaneously running. If you are using multiple windows, it will lead to your computer working in sluggish rate and sometimes poor-response time. And if you are wondering how many applications can you run at the same time? It’s hard to say because each application has different system requirement and will depend on the hardware capacity of your Mac.
- Too much junk. If your system is filled with old documents, temporary files, unnecessary cache, and all sorts of trash, you’ll find it hard to run even a simple program to make it a habit to clean up your Mac with a 3rd party cleaning tool to boost its performance.
How Do You Force Quit Mac Apps?
If you have been waiting far too long for the app to respond but nothing is happening the next best thing to do is Force Quit the app. Here are some ways to do that:
- Click outside of the program that has stopped responding.
- Find the application’s icon on the Dock. Right-click on the icon.
- Hold down Options until the Quit turns to Force Quit.
- Click Force Quit.
This will close the applications and you can just restart the app to check if the problem has been resolved but if your whole Desktop or Dock is unresponsive, you can bring up the Force Quit dialog by following these steps:
- Press Options + Command + Escape. A window will pop up with a list of running programs.
- Select the applications that are not responsive.
- Click Force Quit.
At times, the cause of the problem is a program running in the background. To stop a program from running, follow these steps:
- Open Activity Monitor through Spotlight.
- You can see a lot of processes that you can sort by % CPU or % Memory.
- Find the process you want to close.
- Click the close button.
However, with all the steps you’ve taken, what if your Mac becomes unresponsive? If you can still save your files and close all apps on Mac, do so immediately. If not, you might not have the opportunity later because you have to reboot your Mac.
To reboot, follow these steps:
- Click Control + Power button or press and hold the Power button for 1-2 seconds. This will bring up the Restart/Sleep/Shutdown dialog box instantly.
- Shut Down is selected by default.
If this doesn’t work, you can do a force reboot of your Mac by pressing down Command + Control + Power. This will shut down and restart your Mac immediately and you won’t have the chance to save your work.
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While not a common occurrence if you have a Mac, it happens from time to time that Mac owners have to face the dreaded spinning beach-ball of death, a clear sign that one or more applications on your Mac are frozen and unresponsive.
Because of this, it is always a good thing to know how to force your Mac applications to quit so they don’t affect other open ones and thus, the overall performance of your Mac. Even better, the more ways in which you know how to force quit your Mac applications, the more likely you will be successful doing so in the strange event that the frozen application also freezes the mouse or keyboard of your Mac.
Let’s take a look at 5 different ways in which to force quit applications on your Mac. Some of them using both your mouse and keyboard, and some of them using your keyboard exclusively in case the mouse stops working along with your frozen app.
Macbook Kill Application
Using Both Your Mouse and Keyboard
1. From the Menu
This one is perhaps the most commonly known out there. To force quit an application this way, click on the icon on the menu bar at the top of the screen and then select the Force Quit… option.
This will bring up the Force Quit Applications window. Choose the app you want to force quit from the ones available on the list and then click on Force Quit.
2. Using Activity Monitor
Activity Monitor is a very nice way to manage and monitor all your running apps, allowing you to see which of them takes the most memory, CPU among others. This utility though, is also a great way to Force Quit applications. To do so, open it using Spotlight (the easiest way) and look for the application you want to shut down from the ones available on the list. Once you do, click on the red Quit Process button and confirm your command on the small dialog box that shows up.
3. Right from the Dock
To force quit an app on your Mac from the Dock, first locate the icon of the said application on it. Then right-click on the icon while at the same time holding the Option key on your keyboard.
Using Only Your Keyboard
1. The Direct “Four-Key” Force Quit Command
If the mouse becomes unresponsive along with the app you want to shut down, this keyboard shortcut is your best bet, since it takes down the currently active application instantly.
To do this, press all of these on your keyboard at the same time:
How To Quit Applications On Mac Using Terminal
Command + Option + Shift + Escape
2. Bring Up the Force Quit Application Window
Pointing and clicking with your mouse is not the only way to bring up the Force Quit Applications window. You can also do that using the following keyboard shortcut:
Command + Option + Escape
Once the window is up, just scroll down the list of applications using the arrow keys and then press the Return key (or Enter depending on your keyboard) and then press it again to confirm your choice.
![How To Quit App Lications On Mac How To Quit App Lications On Mac](https://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/force-quit-mac-apps-keyboard-shortcut.jpg)
There you have it. Use any of these alternatives to never get stuck with a frozen app on your Mac.
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![Mac Mac](https://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/force-quit-applications-mac-keyboard-shortcut.jpg)
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