OS X: Quit a Frozen Program

Contributor Icon Contributed by David Kirk     
Tag Icon Tagged: Apple Mac  

A new apple user will eventually find a program that stops responding or hangs. Does OS X have a task manager? Here is how to kill a frozen program.


As an XP user, I was looking for ctrl-alt-del to do something. There are two easy ways to do this.

1. To kill a frozen program in OS X, use the following shortcut:

CMD+option+esc

2. Alternatively, you can hold the option key and click the frozen application in the dock. As long as option is held down, Force Quit will be in the menu that appears.

Editor’s Addendum:
Another easy way to do this is to click and hold on the appie’s icon in the dock. After a second or so there will be a little popup menu (which is useful for other things, too). If the app is responding normally, there will be a “Quit” but if it’s frozen, it will say “Force Quit” instead. I’ll never remember cmd-opt-esc..

oh, definitely worth mentioning.. Apple Menu -> Force Quit.. takes you to the same window you opened. Easier to remember, too.

MightyQ

 

5 Comments -


  1. zach said on May 29, 2009

    thanks, worked absolutely perfectly.

  2. bron said on June 4, 2010

    What about those whose original apple keyboard didn’t last and who have one that is not proprietary therefore has no option key?

  3. Dee said on October 18, 2010

    Thank you!

  4. Dee said on October 18, 2010

    Apple Menu => Force Quit

  5. Carlistos10 said on May 13, 2011

     Thanks!!!

 

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