If you've recently switched to Mac from Windows, you'll no doubt have wondered if there's a Ctrl-Alt-Del equivalent for Mac. The command brings up a menu that is used on Windows to terminate a program/task, or reboot a system. You can even choose to sign out of your account or switch to another one. So, basically, it's a universal fix.

• Press the Alt key on your keyboard. When you see your application icon on the Dock, use the mouse to right-click on it. Here you will see the Force Quit option appearing in the options visible. Click on it to force quit an application on Mac.
• Quitting apps on your Mac 1) Menu Bar menu method. Perhaps the most widely-used method of quitting an app is by using the Menu Bar menu. 2) Dock app icon method. Possibly the second most popular way to quit an app on a Mac due to the ease of accessibility. 3) Keyboard shortcut method.
• Quit current app. You can use Command + Option + Shift + Escape to force the currently active app to quit, just hold the sequence down for a few seconds. Control-Option-click (Ctrl-Alt-Click) an app icon on the Dock and you should see the Force Quit option appear, tap it to Force Quit the app.
• If you can access the Apple menu, click on it, choose Force Quit, select the app and press Force Quit. Right-click or Control-click on the app’s icon in the Dock and choose Force Quit. Try to force quit it from the Dock If you hold down Option and click on an app in the Dock, you will see an extra option for Force Quit.

Your selected app will be force closed. Force Quit Mac App from Dock Panel. In addition to letting you launch apps, the Dock on your Mac also lets you force quit apps on your Mac. All you basically have to do is select the app, choose an option, and your app will be force closed. Find the app you want to force quit in the Dock of your Mac.

How to press Ctrl Alt Delete on a Mac? There's no exact keyboard shortcut that performs the same task as Ctrl+Alt+Delete does on Windows, but you can achieve similar results on Mac — at least with terminating apps — through different commands.

Improved force quit on Mac

The Mac version on Ctrl-Alt-Delete: Grab the best tools for force quitting, effortlessly

There are at least five ways to close programs on Mac via Force Quit. You can use Terminal, a keyboard shortcut, the Apple Menu, Dock, or Activity Monitor, all of which will represent ctrl alt del equivalent for Mac.

In this article, we take a look at all the known ways of using the Mac version of Control Alt Delete.

How to Ctrl-Alt-Delete on a Mac

The simplest answer to 'How do you control alt delete on a Mac keyboard?' would be to use Force Quit. And guess what, there's a shortcut for that as well.

So here's how to do Ctrl Alt Delete on a Mac:

1. Press ⌘+Option+Esc and you'll bring up the Force Quit dialog box. This can be used at any time but, given that you can quit any app by making it active and pressing ⌘+Q, the only time you'll need it is when an app stops responding or starts beachballing. The command would still works when the app is in full-screen mode.
2. Once you've called up the dialog box, you'll see a list of currently running apps. Usually the one that's causing a problem will be labelled as not responding.
3. Select the non-responding app and press Force Quit.

If you don't want to memorize the shortcut, there's an easy way to perform the same action via the Apple menu: Click on the Apple logo in the upper left corner > Force Quit > select the app and force quit (the equivalent of ctrl alt del on Mac).

Tip: If apps regularly become unresponsive or start hogging processor cycles, iStat Menus can help get to the bottom of what's causing the problem. It will show you which apps are using the biggest CPU cycles. And if you need more information, you can launch Activity Monitor directly from the iStat Menus app.

All other alternatives for Ctrl+Alt+Del on a Mac

How to perform 'Ctrl-Alt-Delete' on Mac?

There are a couple of other force quit shortcuts to unfreeze app on Mac:

1. Dock. If you hold down the Control and Option keys, and click on an app's icon in the Dock, you'll see Force Quit listed as an option in the menu that pops up. Select it and the app should force quit.
   
2. Activity Monitor. You can double-click on any application in the Activity Monitor to bring up a separate window with more information about it and the Quit option to close it.
   
3. Apple Menu. The third way to do the equivalent of control alt delete on a Mac keyboard is to click on the Apple menu and select Force Quit. This will bring up the Force Quit dialog box and you can select the unresponsive app from there.
   
4. Terminal. If the basic methods don't work, you can access Terminal utility in the Applications and type the force quit command:
   1. Type 'top' and press the Return button. You'll see the information about all the apps that are active at the moment.
   2. In the Command column, find the name of the app you want to terminate and make a note of its PID number (right on the left).
   3. Type 'q' to return to the command line.
   4. Type 'kill111' (replacing 111 with the PID number) — this will perform force quit on Mac for the selected program.
   5. Quit Terminal.

Once you learn how to force quit an app on Mac, here are two quick ways to relaunch it:

1. Click on the app icon if it's in the Dock.
2. Click on the magnifying glass in the top right corner, type the name of the app, and click on it once it appears.

What do you do when application won't Force Quit

Sometimes it's not just one app that's unresponsive. What to do when your Mac freezes? How do you start Task Manager on a Mac?

To fix browser freezing — let's say, if you can't quit Safari — it would be enough to go into Activity Monitor and kill Safari processes. But if the whole system is not responding and force quit doesn't work on Mac, you'll have to give it a fresh start.

Unlike Windows macOS doesn't use the typical Ctrl-Alt-Delete shortcut to choose frozen programs to Force Quit. If you have a frozen Mac that won't do anything and you can't use any of the methods above to force quit (tip: you can force quit the Finder if it's misbehaving — it's just an app), you need to force it to restart.

Simple steps to fix force quit not working on Mac:

1. Hold down Command and Control and press the power button to restart it. If you have a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar, that won't work. You'll need to force it to shutdown and then start it normally. You do that by holding down the power button for five seconds. Your Mac will then forcibly shut down.
2. You can restart your Mac again by waiting a few seconds and pressing the power button.

This is not the most time-efficient option, but it's definitely helpful to know how to close all apps on Mac.

How to check performance with Activity Monitor

If your Mac is running slowly, but all your apps are still working, or if the fans seem to run more often than normal or are louder than usual, there may be a process hogging CPU cycles. Seems it is a good time to peek inside the processes running on your computer. You can use Mac Activity Monitor shortcut to discover the culprit.

Here's how to start task manager on Mac:

1. Launch Activity Monitor from the Utilities folder in your Applications folder and click the CPU tab.
2. Make sure the arrow next to CPU% is pointing down. If not, click it.
3. If there are any apps or processes using up significant CPU cycles (more than half), they may be causing a problem. You can quit them if you select the app or stop process (it could be a Safari tab) and press the X in the toolbar.

All in all, there is no direct equivalent of pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete on a Mac but by using a combination of the Force Quit function and Activity Monitor tool you can not only end task on Mac, but actually achieve a more informed result. And if you'd like to have even more control over your Mac, use iStat Menus to get all the up-to-date information. You can download and try iStat Menus for free from Setapp and see what's slowing down your Mac right now.

Meantime, prepare for all the awesome things you can do with Setapp.

Read on

Sign Up

When an app is unresponsive or working incorrectly on your PC or mobile device, forcefully closing and reopening the app is an effective troubleshooting solution. Albeit there are several ways to force quit an app on Mac computers, there are also instances where the Force Quit functionality doesn't work. In this post, we explore five (5) probable fixes to this anomaly.

The nature of the problem varies and is often temporary. Usually nothing serious or extreme. The solution could be as simple as clicking a button. Conversely, you might have to execute some seemingly complex commands or perform a complete overhaul of your Mac's operating system. Generally, it's simple stuff, and we'll guide you through the entire process.

Also on Guiding Tech

Top 6 Ways to Fix Cannot Connect to App Store Issue on Mac

Read More

1. Restart Mac

When was the last time you switched off your Mac? Some features of your computer could begin to malfunction if it stays powered on for too long. If apps keep running after you force quit them, you should restart your Mac. Remember to save ongoing processes and manually close all active apps so that you don't lose unsaved documents.

Tap the Apple icon on the menu bar and select Restart.

2. Boot Into Safe Mode

If the issue persists even after performing a restart, you should boot your Mac into Safe Mode. Also known as Safe Boot, this will put your computer in a diagnostic mode where it automatically troubleshoots software-related issues that are preventing your apps from launching or closing correctly.

Safe Mode can also be used to fix disk errors on Mac and other startup related problems. Follow the steps below to boot your Mac into Safe Mode. But before that, you should take a minute to read exhaustively on how and when to use safe mode in Mac.

Step 1: Shut Down your Mac; tap the Apple icon on the menu bar and select Shut Down.

Step 2: Power on your computer and immediately hold down the Shift key on your keyboard.Keep holding the Shift key till your Mac boots up.

Step 3: Release the Shift key when the login screen appears on the display.

You might be prompted to re-enter your password a second time if your computer's startup disk is encrypted with FileVault. The first login decrypts your Mac's hard drive while the second logs you into your account.

Note: In Safe Mode, some features like Wi-Fi, USB connections, video capture, and file sharing might not work. There are also possibilities of experiencing on-screen distortion/blinking on your Mac in Safe Mode. Rebooting your device normally will resolve these issues. So you have nothing to worry about.

Step 4: Check if you can Force Quit apps in Safe Mode. Now, restart your computer normally and check if the Force Quit option works.

Proceed to the next troubleshooting solution if Force Quit still isn't working while in Safe Mode or after rebooting your Mac normally.

3. Use Terminal

The macOS Terminal app is akin to the Command Prompt tool on Windows 10 computers. With Terminal, you can conveniently tweak your Mac's performance and initiate processes that won't work normally. If force quitting an app from the Dock, Activity Monitor, or from the Apple Menu aren't working, try killing the app from the Terminal.

Step 1: Tap Go on the menu bar and select Utilities.

Step 2: Double-click Terminal.

Step 3: Paste the command below into the Terminal console and hit Return on your keyboard.

That will reveal a list of active apps and processes in the console alongside their individual Process ID (PID).

Step 4: Locate the app you want to force quit and note its Process ID (PID) number—a three or four-digit number on the left-hand side.

In this tutorial, we'll force quit the Skitch app with PID number 1133 as seen in the screenshot above.

Quick Tip: Use the Command + F keyboard shortcut to quickly search and find an app.

Step 5: Type kill, leave a space, type the app's PID number, and hit Return on your keyboard. See the command below for reference.

The app will be force closed immediately.

4. Update App

In a scenario where you are unable to force quit just one app, we recommend updating the app to the latest version available. That might help to fix any app-specific issue preventing it from functioning correctly. Navigate to the Updates section of the App Store and update the affected app.

Alternatively, you can also update the app from the developer's website, the in-app update section, or the app's settings menu.

5. Update macOS

Keeping your Mac up-to-date also helps to eliminate software related issues causing apps or your device to malfunction.

Step 1: Tap the Apple icon on the menu bar and select 'About this Mac.'

Step 2: In the Overview tab, click Software Update. /what-office-app-is-used-with-mac.html.

Step 3: Tap the Update Now button.

Also on Guiding Tech

7 Best Fixes for AirDrop Not Sending Files From iPhone to Mac Issues

Read More

Halt the Process

We're positive that at least one of these solutions should work the magic for you. If the issue remains unresolved and you're still unable to force quit apps on your Mac, drop a comment below. Let's see how we can help.

Next up:Are FaceTime calls from your iPhone or iPad not coming through on your Mac? Refer to the solutions in the detailed guide linked below to get the issue fixed.

The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.

How To Force Quit An App On Your Mac Ios

Read NextTop 7 Fixes for FaceTime Calls Not Coming Through on Mac

How To Force Quit An App On Your Mac Pro

Also SeeHow to Fix Faulty or Inaccurate Battery Percentage on Mac

Command Quit On Mac

#mac apps

Did You Know

Thunderbolt 3 is a data and video transfer protocol and is developed by Intel.

More in Mac

How To Force Quit An App On A Mac

Top 5 Fixes for iMessages Not Syncing on Your Mac