The Mac Task Manager
Task Manager of Mac OS X is called Activity Monitor. You can find the status of the system like CPU uses, Network info, Disk info etc. through Activity Monitor. You can also kill a process through Activity Monitor.
Remember, the Task Manager for Mac = Activity Monitor!
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.
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 large red “Quit Process” button in the left corner of the app window. You will get a warning message.
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.
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.
