If you're a veteran of Windows, you're probably familiar with using Job Managing director 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 Activeness Monitor, which has shipped with every version of Mac Os Ten and macOS since 2000. Hither's how to use them.

Terminating Stubborn Programs with "Force Quit"

If yous're familiar with pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete on a Windows PC to impale a stubborn program, y'all'll be glad to know that a similar iii-finger combo exists on the Mac. When a program becomes unresponsive, simply press Command+Selection+Esc to open the "Force Quit Applications" dialog.

A window will pop upwardly that lists currently running apps. To shut a stubborn i that refuses to quit normally, select it from the listing, and click the "Force Quit" button.

The "Force Quit Applications" dialog on a Mac.

After asking for confirmation, macOS volition shut the application you selected. Very handy.

RELATED: What's the Equivalent of Ctrl+Alt+Delete on a Mac?

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.

Open Spotlight Search on Mac and type "Activity Monitor" then hit Return.

One time the "Activity Monitor" window opens, you will see a listing of all the processes running on your Mac, like to this:

An overview of the CPU tab in Activity Monitor on Mac.

Using the 5 tabs beyond the top of the window, you can visit displays that prove data on running processes sorted past CPU usage ("CPU"), retentivity usage ("Retentivity"), energy usage ("Free energy"), disk usage ("Deejay"), and network usage ("Network"). Click the tab corresponding to the department yous'd like to visit.

The various tabs in Activity Monitor on Mac.

At any time while list processes, you lot can select a process from the listing, and click the "Stop" push 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 than information almost the procedure.

The "stop" and "inspect" buttons in Activity Monitor on Mac.

And if you lot're overwhelmed past the number of processes listed, you can narrow them downwardly using the "View" bill of fare upwardly in the carte du jour bar. For instance, you could select "My Processes," to see only a list of processes associated with your user account.

You tin can besides search for a procedure using the search bar in the upper-right corner of the window. Simply type in the proper noun of the app or process you're looking for, and it volition appear in the list (if it is currently running).

Use the search box in Activity Monitor to search for processes on a Mac.

Activity Monitor is very handy, so take some fourth dimension to explore it, and y'all'll become that much more practiced at using it to troubleshoot your Mac. Have fun!

RELATED: How to Troubleshoot Your Mac With Activity Monitor