All Apple computers come with the Mac task manager utility (Activity Monitor). Task manager is provided to help you track the performance of your computer programs. On the PC, there’s the Windows default task manager, which allows you to get behind the scenes on your computer. May 04, 2018  The quickest way to access the Activity Monitor is by using Spotlight Search. Click the magnifying glass on the right side of the menu bar at the top of your screen, or press Command +.

One of the main usages of Activity Monitors on Mac is force quitting problem tasks. If your MacBook became too hot and it sounds like a jet ready to launch, you need to know what the culprit is and how to properly handle it.

To know what to quit on Mac, first use the Activity Monitor to identify the process that is using too many resources. Make sure that it is not a system process, such as watchdogd. Terminating system processes can destabilize the Mac.

All processes on Mac belong to either user or system processes.

Quitting system processes is rarely a good idea. When a system process is forcefully closed then the entire system may become unstable.

Quitting user processes usually does not have such dramatic consequences, but be aware of other drawbacks. When apps forcefully quit (closed) they do not have the opportunity to perform all the things they usually do when closed in regular fashion: save the work and clean up.

/how-to-prevent-hacking-on-mac.html. For instance, if you quit Word or any other text editor which is stuck showing a spinning wheel, you most likely lose all changes you have done since the last save.

You can always start the program again if it’s a user program. In case of the processes that run on the background, they may come back again either when triggered by other apps or after rebooting the Mac.

Following is my 5-step process to analyze what to quit on Mac.

Identify the programs that using too much CPU

Activity Monitor is a Task Manager equivalent on Mac. One can use it to identify the processes that taking too much CPU.

To launch Activity Monitor use the Spotlight Search. Hold Command key and hit the Space bar. In the search window type “Activity Monitor” and then click on the app from the dropdown list.

The program has multiple tabs and the first one is CPU.

To identify the program that need to be quit, click on CPU tab. Then click on CPU% column twice to order by how much processor the tasks are using in descending order.

Mac Activity Monitor Shortcut

In the top left corner of Activity Monitor there are two icons. First, that looks like a stop sign with ‘X’, is called Force Quit and used to terminate apps. If you highlight the process and then click on Force Quit button the Mac will display a warning.

Another icon with ‘i’ symbol provides some basic information about the program and can be used to determine if this is a system or user app.

Identify the programs using too much energy

Another thing to watch on MacBooks is Energy Usage.

To find out which process is draining the battery check Energy pane in Activity Monitor. Sort processes by Energy Impact column.

Higher numbers in this column indicate programs that use the most energy. If the battery time on the MacBook is shorter than usual, consider closing the apps with the highest Energy Impact values.

However, I prefer another way. Locate the battery icon in the menu bar (a bar at the top of the screen. It’s usually next to time or WiFi icons.

Now, hold the Option (⌥) key and click on the battery icon. It will display the apps that are using too much energy and draining the battery.

Use Google to research what the process does

Although it is possible to end almost any process in Activity Monitor, run some research first on Google.

For instance, if the WindowServer is taking too much CPU quick search will reveal that WindowServer is a system process that is responsible for drawing screen in macOS, so quitting it will not be a good move.

By the way, if you wondering why WindowServer is taking so much CPU it really means that you have an application that constantly redrawing the screen by sending commands to WindowServer process. Very often, it’s some kind of game.

Avoid quitting system tasks

Another process you should never end is kernel_task. If you kill then your Mac’s screen will turn white which can only be fixed by a reboot.

In fact, you should try never to quit any system processes because this may cause OS to crash. Sometimes the system services can restart after terminating, but sometimes not.

To find out if theprocess is system click on Activity Monitor and select View -> System Processes in the menu bar.

Here is the list of other system processes that run on Macs and may sometimes cause CPU spikes:

Note that most processes in the table end with “d” which means they daemons – services running on the background. Usually, daemons are the macOS tasks and they are safe.

But hackers are smart, and they often name their malware, so they look like parts of the system. The next section is about viruses and malware.

Identify suspiciousactivity and malware

Since Activity Monitordisplays all processes running on your Mac, it’s a great tool to identifysuspicious activity on the computer.

For instance, here I explained how to spotkeyloggers (applications that spy after you).

Also, there is a possibility that someone was able to connect to your Mac as another unauthorized user.

To see the processes that were not started under your account or root (system) go to the menu bar and select View -> Other User Processes. I wrote an article that describes how to spot if someone is accessing your Mac.

How to identifymalware in Activity Monitor?

While using antivirus software is a better approach to malware identification, it is possible to use Activity Monitor to find and delete certain malware without an anti-malware program.

Live share grundig download mac. For instance, if you have MacPerfomance malware running on your MacBook, then do the following:

1. Start Activity Monitor
2. In the search bar type “macperformance”
3. Click on the process and then click on “i” icon in the toolbar
4. In the information window click on Sample button
5. Use Command-F keys to search for “Path”, e.g. /users/xxx/Libraries/UpdateMac/Macperformance
6. Close the Sample window and click on Quit button to end the process
7. Delete the folder at the path found in step 5
8. Reboot Mac

Should you quit apps on Mac? Final Thoughts

Generally, it’s better not to force quit (terminate) running processes.

If the app displays as Non-responding in Activity Monitor, it’s best to wait several minutes to see if it becomes responsive again. If this does not work, then terminate the app, but be prepared to lose the work you’ve done in the app.

If you find yourselfconstantly quitting the same app, then it might mean that the app is corrupted,and you may need to reinstall it.

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Close unresponsive apps and processes

Open Activity Monitor On Mac

When your system is acting sluggish or simply not responding, an app or process may be the source of the problem. You can use Activity Monitor to locate the troublesome app or process and force it to quit.

Activity Monitor Mac Hacked Photos

See how much energy your Mac is using

You can find out how much energy your Mac is using, and see which apps or processes are using the most energy.

See real-time CPU, network, or disk status in the Dock

It’s easy to keep an eye on your system status without even looking at the Activity Monitor window—you can monitor your CPU, network, or disk usage as a live graph right in the Dock.

Activity Monitor Mac Os

To browse the Activity Monitor User Guide, click Table of Contents at the top of the page.