How to Close Frozen Applications in macOS

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If you've ever encountered an unresponsive program in Windows (and who hasn't?), you’ve undoubtedly used the Ctrl-Alt-Delete key combination to force the program to quit. Unlike PCs, however, macOS doesn't use the typical Ctrl-Alt-Delete key combination to Force Quit frozen programs. If an application hangs up on you on your new Mac, just follow these simple steps:

1. Press Command-Option-Esc on the keyboard to open the Force Quit Applications window.

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2. Select the program you wish to terminate and click Force Quit.

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3. Click the Apple logo in the top left corner, select Force Quit from the drop-down menu as an alternate method.

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How to Use Keyboard Shortcuts in OS X

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How to Use Gestures to Navigate OS X

How to Right Click in OS X

Install Apps in OS X

How to Find Files and Folders in OS X

Take Screenshots in OS X

Make Desktop Shortcuts in Mac OS X

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How to Force Close Frozen Applications in OS X

Quit Applications in OS X

How to Use Full Screen Apps in OS X

Use Spotlight to Find Files in OS X

Create an Apple ID

Move Your PC files to a Mac

How to set up Mail and Calendar accounts on OS X

Use OS X El Capitan's Split Screen Mode

Increase the Text Size on Mac

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2 comments
  • joseph Says:
    January 20th, 2018 at 9:33 am

    I have an exception: Nanosaur II. Launching it takes over the screen. NOTHING will show, not the File menu, not the Dock, nothing. If it freezes (and it does, 2-3 times out of ten), Force Quit Will. Not. Work. Nothing gets me out of the freeze. The only thing I can do is a hard shutdown. If anyone can suggest an alternative, thanks in advance.

  • JonGl Says:
    January 20th, 2018 at 1:09 am

    There are still more ways than this. If a program is truly hung (spinning beach ball), you can right-click, two-finger tap or control-click on the app's icon in the Dock, and you will see "Force Quit" instead of "Quit" in the pop-up menu.

    Lastly, you can open Activity Monitor (in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder, or a Spotlight search away), find the app you want to force quit, click on the Quit button and choose Force Quit. If an app is hung, it will show up as red in the list of apps in the Activity monitor.

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