Are you a veteran of Windows? If so, you must be familiar with the Task Manager and use it to check memory usage or take care of frozen applications. For Mac users, these tasks fall to a utility called the Activity Monitor. Since 2000, the Activity Monitor comes pre-installed with every version of Macs.
If you wish to quickly deal with everyday Mac issues and increase your system’s performance, it is prudent to know a few Task Manager tips for Mac that will come in handy. Continue reading to know how to find and use the Task Manager on Mac.
Where To Find And Open The Activity Monitor?
The Activity Monitor on Mac is the equivalent of the Task Manager on Windows, and it is located in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. There are a few ways to launch it, and one of the simplest methods is to use Spotlight.
You can access the Task Manager on Mac by pressing Command + Spacebar by using Spotlight. When you press this, the Spotlight search field will appear, and you can enter ‘Activity Monitor.’ You need to select the Activity Monitor when it comes up, and then the app will be launched.
Suppose Spotlight isn’t working or you wish to open the Activity Monitor in any other way. In that case, you can click on the Finder icon found in the Dock > select Applications from the side menu of the window that appears > select the Utilities folder in the Applications folder and open it. Then, you need to double-click on the Activity Monitor icon and launch it.
If you think this is a long way to opening the Task Manager, you can pin it to the Dock. Once pinned, you can access the Activity Monitor by clicking on the icon. You have to open the Activity Monitor by using any one of the methods mentioned above and then right-click on its icon in the Dock. In the menu, select Options and click Keep in Dock. After that, you can access it straight away from the Dock.
Using The Activity Monitor
The Activity Monitor is an essential tool, and you can use it in a few ways to simplify your tasks. Here are a few things you can do with the Activity Monitor.
Tracking and monitoring the system parameters
After you have opened the Activity Monitor, you will get access to five tabs. These tabs are the Network, Disk, Energy, Memory, and the CPU tab. By assessing the data on each of these tasks, users can identify which processes impact their Mac’s performance.
On the CPU tab, you can see how the processor activity impacts the processes. You can see how much RAM is being used by the apps on the Mac in the Memory pane. If you want to see the overall energy use and how much energy is being used by each application, you need to tap on the Energy tab. On the Network pane, you can identify the processes of sending and receiving the most data. If you want to see the amount of data each app or process has read from your disk and written to it, you must click the Disk tab.
Viewing additional information about a process or application
In the Activity Monitor, you can check the additional information about all the processes and applications on your Mac. You can view it by clicking on the process or application you are interested in > clicking on the “i” button on the top left corner of the Activity Monitor > you will find a pop-up window that shows additional information regarding processes or apps.
The Activity Monitor allows you to gain insight into so many things and make changes so your system can perform its best. Opening and going through the process or how much memory or data they are consuming makes it easier for users to diagnose any problem and resolve them.
Force quitting applications that have frozen using the Activity Monitor
If applications or programs have frozen and you cannot quit them, use the Activity Monitor to shut them down. You can force quit an application from the Task Manager by opening the Activity Monitor and clicking on the applications you wish to Force Quit. Then, you need to click on the X button, and when you see a pop-up window asking if you wish to quit the process, click Quit and close the frozen applications. If the application is still open, you need to click on Force Quit to end the process.
The Bottom Line
So, this is how you can find and use the Task Manager on your Mac. It can help you diagnose and solve many issues while ensuring frozen apps and programs do not bug you while you are working on your Mac.