The Mac Task Manager

Aug 15, 2010 - 47 Comments

The Task Manager on Mac is called Activity Monitor

Many new Mac users are coming from the Windows world where they would access the Task Manager to end tasks and stop errant processes. The Mac has it’s own Task Manager but it goes by another name: Activity Monitor.

Activity Monitor functions in a very similar way to how Task Manager does in Windows, letting you easily view, manage, and end tasks, applications, and any active processes that are running in Mac OS.

If you’re unfamiliar with Activity Monitor or task management on the Mac in general, don’t worry, because despite it’s immense power and control, it’s not complicated to use. And you can access it and use the feature the same way in all versions of Mac OS, since Activity Monitor works the same from the earliest releases to the most modern.

The Mac Task Manager

Despite being named Activity Monitor many Mac switchers continue to refer to the utility as the Windows name of Task Manager, keep in mind that regardless of the lingo used it’s the same application utility being discussed and used.

Remember, the Task Manager for Mac = Activity Monitor!

Using the Task Manager in Mac OS X

If you’re used to Windows, you’d get to the Task Manager by hitting Control+ALT+DEL.

In Mac OS, it’s a bit different. You can launch the app directly within it’s containing directory, through LaunchPad, drag it into the Dock, or use Spotlight for quick keyboard access.

How to Access Access the Mac Task Manager

Activity Monitor is located in your /Applications/Utilities/ folder. The simplest way to get to Activity Monitor in Mac OS X is to use Spotlight as a keyboard shortcut for quick access:

  • Hit Command+Spacebar to bring up the Spotlight search field
  • Type in “Activity Monitor”
  • Hit the Return key when “Activity Monitor” populates in the spotlight results
  • You are now in Activity Monitor where you can manage and manipulate tasks

It’s often helpful to sort tasks by CPU, but you can sort them by name, memory usage, process ID, and use the search box in the upper right corner to be able to locate specific tasks that match names or characters.

Activity Monitor is very powerful because it not only shows you what applications are running for the active user, but it also displays system level tasks, kernel tasks, daemons, processes that belong to other users, quite literally every process will show up. If it’s running somewhere on the Mac, you can find it in this list.

Killing or Stopping a Task/Process with Activity Monitor

From within Activity Monitor, simply click on the task or application you want to end and then click on the (X) button or large red “Quit Process” button in the left corner of the app window.

You will get a warning dialogue as follows confirming that you want to force quit the process or app you selected:

task manager mac - end process

Assuming you have selected the process/application you want to end, click on the “Quit” button. If the app is being unresponsive, you can click on the “Force Quit” button instead to immediately kill the process and stop the application from running without any further warning.

Get System Stats, CPU, Memory Usage, Network, and Disk Info in Activity Monitor

Looking at the bottom of Activity Monitor you can also get system usage information about your Mac. Just click on the tabs to see information about CPU, System Memory, Disk Activity, Disk Usage (space), and Network activity and usage.

mac task manager system info

If you want to see live system stats and activity all the time, minimize Activity Monitor, then right-click on it’s Dock icon to enable various system activity monitors right in the Dock which will show live graphs instead of the standard icon. You can set them to be specific to CPU (arguably the most useful), network, disk activity, and RAM usage.

Quick Tip for New Mac Users from the Windows World

Until new Mac users are more familiar with Spotlight and how their Mac works, I often recommend recent switchers keep Activity Monitor in their Dock for easy access. The good news is that you will rarely use Activity Monitor, since Mac OS and applications within it run much better than Windows, but it’s good to have it readily available in case something goes haywire. Typically if something does go wrong it’s likely to be a subprocess or plugin inside a web browser, like Java or Flash messing up and freezing up an app or tab in the process.

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS, Tips & Tricks, Troubleshooting

47 Comments

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  1. Kat says:

    Anyone know how to do this for chromebooks? I’m having trouble finding references that aren’t intended for mac or pc..chromebooks are neither PC, mac, phone, or tablet..what can I do to make this work on there?

  2. Joseph says:

    How can i quit my safari? Everytime i open it it freeze?

  3. Lisa c ball says:

    Thanks

  4. nipszx says:

    Somebody please help. My Macbook is running at 180 degrees and is smoking hot. When I open up Activity monitor “scutil” is using up 80% and when I quit the process my Mac cools down. How can I quit “scutil” for good and keep it from reappearing as a CPU hog?

  5. SHRAVAN says:

    THNX …..

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  10. […] page for pkill for more uses and flags, and remember that average Mac users will be better served managing tasks with Activity Monitor instead. pkill is not available to OS X prior to Mountain Lion. stLight.options({ […]

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  12. randy says:

    Thanks for this!

  13. Bryon says:

    Thanks!

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  19. VineetNeo says:

    Thanks Man love this got rid and getting used to mac. Thanks

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  25. Scott L. Peterson says:

    FYI, on Windows systems that are set to us the Welcome screen or are joined to a domain, ctrl+alt+del opens the Windows Security box, which gives you the option to open the Task Manager, lock the computer, change the password, etc. To open the Task Manager directly, ctrl+shift+esc is the shortcut.

    Regardless, thanks for the good, informative article!

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  43. Steve says:

    Wouldn’t it be much simpler to use Force Quit (cmd, alt, esc)?

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