How to Open and Use Task Manager on Mac (2024)

Aug. 11, 2024

If you’ve been using Windows for a long time and have recently switched to a Mac, you might be wondering where is task manager on Mac or how to get Task Manager on Mac. Isn’t it? After being Windows for quite a while, most users develop a habit of hitting “Ctrl + Alt+ Delete” to bring up Task Manager to force quit an app or check what’s slowing down the system. There is also aWindows Task Managerequivalent on Mac that provides similar information and tools. This article will tell you how to open and use Task Manager on Macs. Here you go!

Task Manager Equivalent on Mac

Windows computers have a Task Manager that allows users to see what programs are running on the computer, check resource consumption, and manage and troubleshoot tasks.Every Mac has a Task Manager equivalent called Activity Monitor.This built-in macOS utility offers a detailed look over your Mac’s process, including applications and system tasks. You can check the currently running processes & apps and how much system resources each process is using Also, this Mac task manager equivalent lets you force quit apps that you can’t close the usual way.

Unfortunately, the “Ctrl + Alt+ Delete” keyboard shortcut won’t open Mac’s task manager a.k.a. Activity Monitor for you. That said, it’s super easy and quick to open Activity Monitor on your Mac. Here are some ways to do it.

Spotlight search is one of the quickest ways to open MacBook’s Activity Monitor. Since you can access Spotlight from any window or app you’re working on, you always have your Mac’s task manager at your disposal. Here’s how to do it:

If you need Activity Monitor more frequently, you must pin it to the dock for easier access. This will act as a handy, one-click shortcut to open task manager on your Mac. Here’s what you need to do:

The Activity Monitor will now stay in the Dock and you can launch it anytime like any other app or program.

Activity Monitor is the task manager on Mac. If you’ve always used a Windows computer, you might need to learn how to use Activity Monitor. We’ve mentioned some of the most useful ways to use Task Manager on your Mac. Let’s check them out.

Activity Monitor has a CPU tab that shows real-time CPU usage. It shows processes currently taking up your Mac’s CPU, how much power they are consuming, and tells you how long they have been running. To know which processes are consuming the most CPU, click on the%CPUcolumn. This will sort the process by CPU usage, from highest to lowest.

You’ll notice a process named “kernel_task” could be taking a large share of the CPU. Don’t freak out and don’t shut it down. It’s an essential macOS process that simply manages the temperature of your CPU by making it less available for processes and apps that are using it intensively.

If your Mac is working too slowly, you can use Activity Monitor to check RAM usage on your Mac. Since RAM is directly responsible for maintaining the speed on your device, RAM usage can help you figure out the reason for slow performance so you can speed things up.

To check RAM usage, click on theMemorytab at the top. At the bottom, you’ll see a Memory Pressure Gauge that indicates the system’s ability to meet the memory requirements of the user. Higher memory pressure may degrade the system’s performance. If the bar turns red, you might want to expand the memory for your machine.

There can be instances when your MacBook battery drains abnormally and you have no clue why is this happening. In such cases, you can use Activity Monitor to check the real-time energy consumption on your Mac. Simply click on theEnergy tabfrom the top. This will show you how much battery your apps and processes are using. If you spot some battery-draining apps, quit them to extend your screen time.

Unlike other tabs in Mac’s task manager, you might not use theDisk tabvery often in your everyday routine. This tab shows the number of times different processes interact with the hard disk to read and write data. If some processes are rewriting a lot of data, they might be malware. You must quit them immediately.

Finally, there’s aNetwork tabin Mac’s Activity Monitor that shows the amount of data received and sent by every app that you have on your machine. While you won’t use this frequently, it can help you spot apps and processes that send too much data online.

The Activity Monitor on Mac lets youforce quit appsthat aren’t responding or can’t be closed as usual. Also, it allows you to see and quit background processes that you won’t see normally. This comes in handy when your Mac is running slowly or an app is misbehaving.

You can also dive deeper and inspect a specific process running on your Mac. This information comes in handy when you’re facing slow performance on your Mac running slowly. It might help you spot the app or background process that’s slowing down the system.

Here’s how to inspect a process on Mac:

Activity Monitor is the Mac equivalent of the Windows Task Manager.

You can use Spotlight search to find and open Activity Monitor on your Mac. You can also go to Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor or open Launchpad -> Others -> Activity Monitor.