Windows like Ctrl + Alt + Delete on MacOS App To Kill Tasks

On Windows, I can hit Ctrl + Alt + Delete and kill apps or do other stuff. Sometimes Firefox browser hangs on macOS. Is there an equivalent of Ctrl + Alt + Delete keyboard shortcut to kill frozen apps on Apple macOS Sierra?

There is no all in one equivalent on macOS. Yes, if your app on Mac computer stops working and you cannot quit the app such as Firefox generally, use Force Quit to close that app.

How to force an app to quit on mac os

To start Force Quit app, click on the Apple menu and select Force Quit:

Or you can use keyboard shortcut. Press Command-Option-Esc to bring Force Quit app:

Fig.02: How to force a Mac app such as Firefox to quit

Select the app such as Firefox in the Force Quit window, then click Force Quit.

Say hello to Activity Monitor

The closest similar of the Windows Task Manager is The Activity Monitor app. It shows the processes that are running on your computer and much more. To start the Activity Monitor:

Press Command–space on your keyboard
Start typing activity monitor
As soon as activity monitor is displayed, hit enter key.

Fig.03: Activity Monitor running on my Mac

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin, DevOps engineer, and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. Get the latest tutorials on SysAdmin, Linux/Unix and open source topics via RSS/XML feed or weekly email newsletter.

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1 comment

cmd + alt (option) + [ESC] does the trick and lets you force quit applications or you can use Right Click (Ctrl + mouse click) the running application in the Dock and hold the Option (alt) key which also enables you to force quit an application.

M Vilhelmsson says:
July 17, 2017 at 5:34 pm
cmd + alt (option) + [ESC] does the trick and lets you force quit applications or you can use Right Click (Ctrl + mouse click) the running application in the Dock and hold the Option (alt) key which also enables you to force quit an application.

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