Quit All Running Apps Mac

Posted on by

Menu Bar menu method is widely used by most Mac users to quit an app. By pressing Command + Option + Escape at the same time you’ll reveal the Force Quit Applications window, which will show you all the running applications on your Mac and allow you to Force Quit. Normally, if you want to close all of the open apps on your Mac, you'd have to either quit them all one by one or restart, shut down, or log out while making sure to deselect “Reopen windows when logging back in.' The latter option is great, but it doesn't always work in Mac OS X, and what if you don't want to restart, shut down, or log out? One issue that may arise is an app using an exorbitant amount of energy or memory, causing your Mac to overheat or suffer severe battery drain. Sometimes, simply closing an app doesn't do the trick. Force Quit from Apple Menu. Before closing the frozen app wait for a minute.

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?

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.

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:

  1. Click on the black apple icon in the upper-left corner.
  2. From the drop-down menu, select “Force Quit…”. You will be directed to the new window named “Force Quit Application” where all the magic happens.
  3. Now all you have to do is select the application you want to close and choose “Force Quit.”

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.

  1. On your keyboard, press and hold Command + Option + Esc. It will immediately bring up a “Force Quit Application” window.
  2. Select the frozen application from the dialogue box and select “Force Quit.”

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.

Running Mac Apps On Windows

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've recently switched to Mac from Windows, you'll no doubt have wondered if there's a Ctrl-Alt-Del equivalent for Mac. The command brings up a menu that is used on Windows to terminate a program/task, or reboot a system. You can even choose to sign out of your account or switch to another one. So, basically, it's a universal fix.

How to press Ctrl Alt Delete on a Mac? There's no exact keyboard shortcut that performs the same task as Ctrl+Alt+Delete does on Windows, but you can achieve similar results on Mac — at least with terminating apps — through different commands.

Improved force quit on Mac

The Mac version on Ctrl-Alt-Delete: Grab the best tools for force quitting, effortlessly

There are at least five ways to close programs on Mac via Force Quit. You can use Terminal, a keyboard shortcut, the Apple Menu, Dock, or Activity Monitor, all of which will represent ctrl alt del equivalent for Mac.

In this article, we take a look at all the known ways of using the Mac version of Control Alt Delete.

How to Ctrl-Alt-Delete on a Mac

The simplest answer to 'How do you control alt delete on a Mac keyboard?' would be to use Force Quit. And guess what, there's a shortcut for that as well.

So here's how to do Ctrl Alt Delete on a Mac:

  1. Press ⌘+Option+Esc and you'll bring up the Force Quit dialog box. This can be used at any time but, given that you can quit any app by making it active and pressing ⌘+Q, the only time you'll need it is when an app stops responding or starts beachballing. The command would still works when the app is in full-screen mode.
  2. Once you've called up the dialog box, you'll see a list of currently running apps. Usually the one that's causing a problem will be labelled as not responding.
  3. Select the non-responding app and press Force Quit.
Quit All Running Apps Mac

If you don't want to memorize the shortcut, there's an easy way to perform the same action via the Apple menu: Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner > Force Quit > select the app and force quit (the equivalent of ctrl alt del on Mac).

Tip: If apps regularly become unresponsive or start hogging processor cycles, iStat Menus can help get to the bottom of what's causing the problem. It will show you which apps are using the biggest CPU cycles. And if you need more information, you can launch Activity Monitor directly from the iStat Menus app.

All other alternatives for Ctrl+Alt+Del on a Mac

How to perform 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' on Mac?

There are a couple of other force quit shortcuts to unfreeze app on Mac:

  1. Dock. If you hold down the Control and Option keys, and click on an app's icon in the Dock, you'll see Force Quit listed as an option in the menu that pops up. Select it and the app should force quit.
  2. Activity Monitor. You can double-click on any application in the Activity Monitor to bring up a separate window with more information about it and the Quit option to close it.
  3. Apple Menu. The third way to do the equivalent of control alt delete on a Mac keyboard is to click on the Apple menu and select Force Quit. This will bring up the Force Quit dialog box and you can select the unresponsive app from there.
  4. Terminal. If the basic methods don't work, you can access Terminal utility in the Applications and type the force quit command:
    1. Type 'top' and press the Return button. You'll see the information about all the apps that are active at the moment.
    2. In the Command column, find the name of the app you want to terminate and make a note of its PID number (right on the left).
    3. Type 'q' to return to the command line.
    4. Type 'kill111' (replacing 111 with the PID number) — this will perform force quit on Mac for the selected program.
    5. Quit Terminal.

Once you learn how to force quit an app on Mac, here are two quick ways to relaunch it:

Running
  1. Click on the app icon if it's in the Dock.
  2. Click on the magnifying glass in the top right corner, type the name of the app, and click on it once it appears.

What do you do when application won't Force Quit

Sometimes it's not just one app that's unresponsive. What to do when your Mac freezes? How do you start Task Manager on a Mac?

To fix browser freezing — let's say, if you can't quit Safari — it would be enough to go into Activity Monitor and kill Safari processes. But if the whole system is not responding and force quit doesn't work on Mac, you'll have to give it a fresh start.

Unlike Windows macOS doesn't use the typical Ctrl-Alt-Delete shortcut to choose frozen programs to Force Quit. If you have a frozen Mac that won't do anything and you can't use any of the methods above to force quit (tip: you can force quit the Finder if it's misbehaving — it's just an app), you need to force it to restart.

Simple steps to fix force quit not working on Mac:

  1. Hold down Command and Control and press the power button to restart it. If you have a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, that won't work. You'll need to force it to shutdown and then start it normally. You do that by holding down the power button for five seconds. Your Mac will then forcibly shut down.
  2. You can restart your Mac again by waiting a few seconds and pressing the power button.

This is not the most time-efficient option, but it's definitely helpful to know how to close all apps on Mac.

Quit all running apps mac pro

Quit All Running Apps Mac Pro

How to check performance with Activity Monitor

If your Mac is running slowly, but all your apps are still working, or if the fans seem to run more often than normal or are louder than usual, there may be a process hogging CPU cycles. Seems it is a good time to peek inside the processes running on your computer. You can use Mac Activity Monitor shortcut to discover the culprit.

Here's how to start task manager on Mac:

  1. Launch Activity Monitor from the Utilities folder in your Applications folder and click the CPU tab.
  2. Make sure the arrow next to CPU% is pointing down. If not, click it.
  3. If there are any apps or processes using up significant CPU cycles (more than half), they may be causing a problem. You can quit them if you select the app or stop process (it could be a Safari tab) and press the X in the toolbar.

All in all, there is no direct equivalent of pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete on a Mac but by using a combination of the Force Quit function and Activity Monitor tool you can not only end task on Mac, but actually achieve a more informed result. And if you'd like to have even more control over your Mac, use iStat Menus to get all the up-to-date information. You can download and try iStat Menus for free from Setapp and see what's slowing down your Mac right now.

Setapp lives on Mac and iOS. Please come back from another device.

Quit All Running Apps Mac Free

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

Read on

Sign Up

Kill All Running Apps Mac

Setapp uses cookies to personalize your experience on our website. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our cookie policy.

Mac Quit Program