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I'm new to Mac OS X. Sometimes my system hangs, and I cannot do anything with it. In Windows, I would use Task Manager to stop the unwanted application, but in Mac OS X, what option is available? When my Mac has hung, I have used "Activity Monitor" only. Are there any other options available in Mac OS X?

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6 Answers 6

Reset to default
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If you just want to kill hanging apps try pressing cmd+alt+esc. This opens a mini version of activity monitor, which allows you to select and kill any hanging applications.

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  • That allows you to force quit running Applications, but it is nowhere near a fully fledged task manager as there is a LOT more going on in the background.
    – churnd
    Commented Aug 11, 2010 at 11:40
  • Activity Monitor is the "fully fledged task manager" as you called it. But Pugal Devan already found it. I think he wanted to now what's the fastest way to force applications to quit. That's the "cmd-alt-esc"-way.
    – lajuette
    Commented Aug 11, 2010 at 12:15
  • another task manager alternative is atMonitor, it has no Sample option, but offers some other interesting features such as querying iUseThis for the latest version info, so you easy can tell what a program does. atpurpose.com/atMonitor
    – neoneye
    Commented Aug 11, 2010 at 16:04
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You want to use Activity Monitor in your /Applications/Utilities folder. This is the equivalent of Windows Task Manager. It will give you a full list of all processes running on your computer at that time, importantly the ones running in the background. However, be careful what you decide to kill because it can make your system temporarily unstable (requiring a reboot) if you don't know what you're doing.

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    He already found Activity Monitor...
    – lajuette
    Commented Aug 11, 2010 at 12:15
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You can right-click on the icon of a running/hanging application in the Dock. If it is not responding, the usual Quit is turned into Force Quit. If the program is running fine, but you want to force quit anyway, hold alt.

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I used the Terminal with the command top -o vsize to see wich program is consuming more memory, then i killed with kill PID or killall PROGRAM. I like these because is lighter than Monitor Activity.

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in Terminal application you can type 

ps -e

to list all the processes. each one has a pid which you can stop by typing

kill pid

replacing pid with the actual process number

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I like to add a link to iStatMenus. It shows cpu, ram consumption, disk usage and a lot more in the menubar.

(It's a shame that isn't integrated in Mac OS X)

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  • But this doesn't help at all with killing hanging apps, does it?
    – lajuette
    Commented Aug 11, 2010 at 12:16
  • @lajuette: Right, but this was something I missed switching from the Windows TaskManager to Mac OS X. In Windows, you get the CPU usage in the Systemtray when the Taskmanager is open. Just want to mention it...
    – Tim Büthe
    Commented Aug 12, 2010 at 15:37
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    Try MenuMeters. It's almost the same but not as polished as iStatMenus. But it's free. =)
    – lajuette
    Commented Aug 12, 2010 at 18:35
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    If you open the Activity Monitor, included with OS X, there is an option under the Window menu for a CPU usage meter, CPU history meter and a floating CPU meter. Sure, it's not in the menubar, but it is integrated into Mac OS X and performs the same purpose as the Windows Taskmanager.
    – ghoppe
    Commented Aug 12, 2010 at 20:00
  • @lajuette: I'll give that a try, thanks a lot. @ghoppe: I did not know that, thnaks!
    – Tim Büthe
    Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 10:01

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