Ok, I get it. There is no equivalent to the PC’s Ctrl+Alt+Del shortcut on a Mac® to force quit an application. So how do I quit that annoying program that’s not responding?
Sometimes a Mac app freezes up and you have to kill it. Well, not actually kill it, but you may have to force it to quit so you can relaunch it. Here’s how you use Force Quit an application in macOS: Choose Force Quit from the Apple ( ) menu, or press Command-Option-Esc. Select the app in the Force Quit window. Click Force Quit. As you may have noticed, there is no command to Finder. It is done for security reasons. But there are a few tricks how to quit or force close Finder on Mac. Open Finder, go to Apple menu, hold Shift and select the Force Quit Finder option. Another way to quit Finder is to use a free application Memory Cleaner.
Luckily, Apple® has you covered and gives you multiple options. The shortcut actually exists, and moreover, there are a few other extremely convenient ways to fight buggy apps. Today I’m going to list three easy ways to force-quit an application on a Mac, without harming the system.
If An App Won't Force Quit Mac
Let’s dive in!
Is it Safe to Force Quit?
Forcing a frozen application to quit is the same as killing the symptoms when we get sick versus curing the virus. We need to see the bigger picture and understand what causes the problem and how to cure it while understanding how to avoid it from happening again.
The number one reason we have a problem with frozen applications in a Mac is insufficient RAM—or, in other words, a lack of computer memory to operate the system compared to the number of applications you usually open (including those numerous open tabs in a browser). So anytime your system utilizes all of its existing resourses to run the task, it becomes unresponsive. Think of RAM like a physical workbench. The more space (memory) you have to work, the more projects you can have out to work on. Less space? Less ability to work on multiple things at once.
Forcing Mac to quit the application does resolve the problem but may have downsides. When you close an application in the traditional manner, it will clean everything it runs in the background and alert you to save the work. When you force close on Mac, you may end up losing files and data, or mess things up on the drive. Although the effect will only be related to that one particular application that got stuck, sometimes it can hurt.
Using a smart app like Parallels Toolbox can help you to free up unused memory on the fly and prevent the applications from getting frozen over and over again. The package includes over 30+ useful apps for everyday needs that any Mac user will benefit from, including downloading videos and music from sites like YouTube, taking screenshot or record videos, optimize your Mac performance, free up extra space and so much more.
You can download Toolbox and try it out for free here (no registration needed).
1. Force Quit Using the Apple Menu
The most conventional and effective way to close frozen programs is to go to the macOS® menu bar, located along the top of the screen in the Finder menu.
To force quit an application, simply do the following:
If you don’t know which application is stuck, pay attention to the ones that have the note “Not Responding.” This usually appears next to frozen applications.
2. Force Quit with Mac Shortcut
To do the same thing but faster, use Mac shortcut keys to close frozen applications.
This could be your go-to method if the mouse or trackpad is lagging.
3. Close Application from Activity Monitor (Ctrl+Alt+Del Alternative)
Here’s the pinnacle of this article.
Very few Apple owners know that macOS provides an almost identical alternative to the traditional PC Control+Alt+Delete shortcut—and does it better. Yes, we all know that in Windows that keyboard shortcut is often used to open the Task Manager window. (To be honest, it’s needed too often, which is why we’re on a Mac.) From Task Manager, you can track applications, services, performance, and processes, and kill some of them when they’re unresponsive.
You can easily do all of that and more on the macOS native application called Activity Monitor.
To kill an application using Activity Monitor, do the following.
1. On your keyboard, press Command + Space, or click on Spotlight in the top-right corner of the screen.
2. In the “Spotlight Search” window, start typing “Activity Monitor.”
3. Once Activity Monitor is highlighted, hit Enter.
4. In the Activity Monitor processes list, select the application you want to quit and click “Force a process to quit” in the left corner.
What to Do If Force Quit Isn’t Working?
If all the applications stop responding and you can’t quit them using one of the methods described above, you can force your Mac to restart. To do so, press and hold the Control+Command+Power buttons.
Alternatively, you can force Mac to shut down by pressing and holding the power button, or use one of the many other shortcuts.
What’s the Solution?
Since your Mac doesn’t have enough space to run all those applications you need, the most obvious step would be to increase the RAM. If you own an iMac® or the older generation of MacBook Pro®, you can simply buy memory and upgrade your existing computer. With the new Mac generation, you don’t have that option anymore because the RAM is glued and soldered to the motherboard. You either buy a new computer or struggle.
Alternatively, you can clean your memory to free up space using Parallels® Toolbox. Parallels designed a tool set for macOS and PC users to efficiently manage their computer with just a few clicks—without any professional knowledge needed. Within the application (which is available to try for free), you can easily free up unused computer memory, clean your drive, and help your Mac run at max speed with a dozen other useful utilities.
If you’re interested in learning how easily one click can save precious disk space, check out how much space I took back with the Parallels Toolbox tool Clean Drive:
In one click (and about 10 seconds), I successfully removed 4 GB of clutter and reclaimed space on my hard drive.
So there you have it. Take care of your Mac with those quick tips, and remember to always save your work!
If you are facing a problem with several apps being stuck or taking too long to close then you can try force-quitting them and get back to your work.
In this article, we will tell you more than one way that you can use to force quit an app in case of a problem.
Moreover, before we start with the methods, you need to keep in mind one thing and that is, it’s not like how you quit an app usually and a prompt appears to ask you to save your work.
Force Quit Mac Keyboard
Once you force quit an app, there is nothing like that happening and macOS will shut down the app the moment you force quit. So this is an important thing that you need to keep in mind.
Now let’s start with method breakdown.
Using Finder To Force Quit An App
Using Finder to force quit an app is Apple recommended method for its users.
Here’s what you need to do:
Here, you need to select the application that is troubling you and select Force Quit.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts To Force Quit An App:
You can try keyboard shortcuts to force quit an app in case the above method fails.
Here’s what you need to do;
The classical ‘Ctrl+Alt+Delete’ key combination would be very common to Windows users to assess the last option when an application has crashed.
Pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete from a Mac won’t do much, you can also use such buttons:
the Alt buttons are named Option on any Mac keyboard, the Control key is there, so it’s similar to a Command key on a Mac, so there’s generally no Delete-marked key.
After that, all you need to do is to select the application that is troubling you and Force Quit it.
Using Option Key:
Using Option Key to get rid of the troubling application is another manual way that can be helpful for you.
Here’s what you need to do:
Don’t panic if this too does not work, we have other options available for you. Head down to know what else you can try.
Using Terminal To Force Quit Application:
This is the most effective method to get rid of the unresponsive and troublesome app and it you can use it as a last resort if all the other options are not working:
What You Should Do When Your Mac Is Frozen?
It is a common problem that an app becomes unresponsive and results in a system freeze.
Although such situations are uncommon, they happen and eventually, you can just keep down for a few seconds the power button on your Laptop.
Usually, a message is sent to your system when you press the power button telling it to close.
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Usually, the system reacts by sleeping the machine.
When the button is held down longer, the dialogue box will provide you with a variety of choices, including restart, shutdown or sleep.
Yet even this possibility can not occur in a serious system crash.
The last thing is to keep down the button until the computer absolutely cuts down the electricity.
Now that you can restart and return to your Mac, you may notice all unsaved data was lost due to the abrupt nature of the shutdown.
It’s not ideal, but it’s sometimes the only way back to work.
Note that you want to stop opening again the program that triggered the issue when the machine restarts to ensure that the box next to Reopen windows is not ticked after logging back in!
Wrapping It Up!!!
Unresponsive or troublesome apps are a common problem among all sorts of computer platforms.
These app issues are annoying and sometimes they consume a lot of your time.
With this article, our aim was to provide you with effective ways that can help you resolve this problem.
We have mentioned 5 methods and we assure that one of them will be helpful for you if not all.
Having said that, we come to the end of our article. We hoped that this article was helpful for you and you got the information you needed.
Moreover, if you still got some problem, you can contact us, we will try our best to solve your problem and provide you with the best solution.
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