Task Manager for Mac – How to Open Activity Monitor to Manage

November 27, 2019Nicole Jones

When you need to end some app manually, or check the running apps on MacBook, what is the task manager for Mac? Activity Monitor is the Mac task manager equivalent, which shares the similar functions as the Windows task manager, such as monitor the system parameters, view the status of the app or process, or even quit the apps.

How to open Activity Monitor, the task manager for Mac to monitor the Mac system, or force quit the apps? What should be the best task manager to monitor and manage Mac system, or even remove the apps completely? Just learn more details from the article now.

Open Task Manager

Part 1: Activity Monitor – The Task Manager for Mac

Activity Monitor is the simple and important task manager for Mac. It enables you to monitor the system parameters, view the details about the Mac apps or processes, or even manage the apps with ease.

1. Monitor CPU with task manager for Mac

The "CPU" tab presents the process uses your Mac's process. It lists the processes by CPU percentage, enables you to quit the rogue process, and check the times a process awoke from the sleep state.

Monitor CPU

2. Check Memory with task manager for Mac

You can find how much RAW your Mac is using, find a real time memory graph with values that can help you diagnose the performance and check the memory used, wired memory, app memory, compressed and more.

Check Memory

3. Review Energy Usage with task manager for Mac

In the "Energy" tab, you can check the "Energy Impact" along with the "Avg Energy Impact" to each app over the last eight hours. The "App Nap" allows your Mac to put inactive apps to sleep.

Review Energy Usage

4. Check Write/Read data via task manager for Mac

In order to check the process has read from or written to the disk, you can take advantage of the "Disk" tab. It denotes the number of times your Mac access the drive to read and write data.

Check Write/Read Data

5. Use the Network in task manager for Mac

The "Network" tab shows the data your Mac is sending or receiving over the network. You can also quickly identify apps that transmit the data and external resource for each process within the task manager.

Use the Network

Part 2: How to Open and Manage the Task Manager on Mac

How to launch the task manager on Mac? As for the Windows 10/8/7, you can press the "Control" + "ALT" + "DEL" key combination. It is a bit different in Mac OSX. Just follow the Activity Monitor located in /Applications/Utilities/ folder as below.

How to Pull up Task Manager on Mac with Shortcut

Step 1:
Press Command and Spacebar to bring up the Spotlight search field.
Step 2:
Type in the "Activity monitor".
Step 3:
Select the Activity Monitor from popup window to launch task manager on your MacBook Pro.
Step 4:
After that, you can manage and manipulate the tasks.
Activity monitor

How to Start Task Manager on Mac from Finder

Step 1:
Click the Finder app in the Dock of your MacBook Pro.
Step 2:
Choose the "Applications" from the side menu of the window.
Step 3:
Then you can select the "Utilities" folder to locate the Activity Monitor on your Mac.
Step 4:
Double click the "Activity Monitor" icon to open the app.
Start Task Manager

How to Kill a Task with Task Manager

Step 1:
Once you get task manager on Mac, you can locate the app you want to force quit.
Step 2:
Click on the "X" button in the top left corner of the Activity Monitor Window.
Step 3:
There is a popup window asking for quit this process.
Step 4:
Click the "Quit" to close the unresponsive app.
Step 5:
Choose the "Force Quit" to end the process if the app is still open.
Kill a Task

Part 3: Best Task Manager for Mac to Monitor the Mac System

Aiseesoft Mac Cleaner is more than a Mac cleaner to remove junk files, clutter, large and old files, shred files and delete duplicate files. It is also the task manager on Mac that enables you to check the CPU, Memory, Disk and other system status of your Mac.

Mac Cleaner

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Mac Cleaner

  • Check the status for CPU, Memory and Disk as task manager for Mac.
  • Clean system junk, iPhoto junk, email junk, iTunes junk, trash bin, etc.
  • Monitor the system performance, disk utilization, battery status and more.
  • Test your network speed and view related information on your Mac.
  • Hide and show the hidden files on Mac.
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Step 1:
Check the Status of your Mac
Once you have installed the Mac Cleaner on your MacBook Pro, you can launch the program and choose the "Status" to check the CPU, Memory, and Disk status as task manager on Mac.
Check Status
Step 2:
Clean the junk files on Mac
Go to the "Cleaner" option, which you can remove the Large & Old Files, System Junk, Email Junk, Similar Photos, iTunes Junk, Trash Bin, Duplicated Finder and more other files.
Clean
Step 3:
Check the WiFi status and more
Choose the "ToolKit" option, you can learn more about the Wi-Fi information, including Wi-Fi password and user name, test your network speed and view the related information.

Conclusion

When you need to end some unresponsive app, or force quit a process, you can launch task manager on Mac to monitor and manage the apps. Learn more about the features for the Activity Monitor and best alternative app to optimize and enhance the Mac system with ease.

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Mac Cleaner is a professional Mac management tool to remove junk files, clutter, large/old files, delete duplicate files and monitor your Mac performance.

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