What is Ctrl-Alt-Delete on a Mac?

Option-Command-Esc. It opens the Force Quit window, where you select an app that isn’t responding and click Force Quit.

Where is Activity Monitor on a Mac?

In the Utilities folder inside Applications. Spotlight (Command-Space) finds it by name too.

Is it safe to quit processes in Activity Monitor?

Quitting your own apps is safe, though Force Quit can lose unsaved work. Quitting system processes you don’t recognise can log you out or restart parts of macOS, so stick to apps you know.

Quick answer

Does a Mac have a Task Manager?

By Vishva Variya · Updated November 7, 2026

Short answer

Yes, it’s called Activity Monitor. Apple’s own Windows-to-Mac guide says to use Activity Monitor where you’d use Task Manager; it’s in the Utilities folder inside Applications. To close a frozen app quickly, press Option-Command-Esc to open the Force Quit window instead.

How to do it

1Open Activity Monitor from Applications › Utilities, or search for it in Spotlight.
2Click a column heading such as % CPU to sort by what’s busiest.
3Select the process, click the Stop button, then choose Quit or Force Quit.

How to open Activity Monitor

In Finder, go to Applications › Utilities › Activity Monitor. Or press Command-Space to open Spotlight, type Activity Monitor and press Return.

Apple also lets it show a live CPU graph right in its Dock icon.

What it shows

Activity Monitor lists every process on the Mac. Apple describes processes as apps, system apps used by macOS, or invisible background processes. Separate views cover CPU, memory, energy, disk and network use, and you can sort any column to see what’s busiest.

Select a process and click the Info button, or double-click it, to see more about it. The search field finds a process by name.

How to end a task

Select the app or process in the list. Items that aren’t responding are marked (Not Responding) in red. Click the Stop button at the top left of the window, then choose Quit to close it normally or Force Quit to end it immediately. Force Quit can lose unsaved work.

For an app that won’t respond, the faster route is Option-Command-Esc (or Apple menu › Force Quit), which opens a short list of open apps with a Force Quit button.

Folders involved

/System/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app

Where Peekaboo fits

Peekaboo doesn’t replace Activity Monitor for every process, its threads or energy detail, and it says so. Its Mac Health page reads the same kinds of numbers (processor, memory, disk, network, heat and, on laptops, the battery), lists the apps keeping the Mac busy or awake with Quit right there, and turns it all into a 0–100 score with a sentence for every lost point. It keeps a week of readings on your Mac, so you can see whether today is unusual. For every process in detail, open Activity Monitor.

Questions

What is Ctrl-Alt-Delete on a Mac?: Option-Command-Esc. It opens the Force Quit window, where you select an app that isn’t responding and click Force Quit.
Where is Activity Monitor on a Mac?: In the Utilities folder inside Applications. Spotlight (Command-Space) finds it by name too.
Is it safe to quit processes in Activity Monitor?: Quitting your own apps is safe, though Force Quit can lose unsaved work. Quitting system processes you don’t recognise can log you out or restart parts of macOS, so stick to apps you know.