Activity Monitor is the Mac's Task manager
Migration between Windows and Mac users are casual occurrence, caused by variety of reason. Sometimes it's a difference between your own and work computers, sometimes decisions to change your home computers to try another operating system or manufacturer, etc. What is more, common problems after changing the platform are, that you can't find your well known features or application, but that doesn't mean they're not available. Task manager is not an exception, a lot of Windows users who came into Mac world just can't find it.
Mac also has a Task Manager application but with a different name: Activity Monitor. Features of Activity Monitor application are very similar to the Task Manager in Windows. Features of Activity Monitor application are very similar to the Task Manager in Windows. Aug 22, 2017 - Fear not: Task Manager exists on Macs, but it has a different name. This is through using the Spotlight keyboard shortcuts,.
Task manager is well known like a monitor of your system, which allows you to spectate performance of your computer, applications and services that work in the background, resource consumption of each process and launch or close some of your services and process. So, you are probably wondering whether Macs have such a useful application. Luckily it does, just the name is different - it's called Activity Monitor. However, functions and the principles of operation are very similar to the Windows Task manager. Here we will show you the path and how to use Activity monitor which is equivalent to Task manager.
Table of Contents:
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Usage of Activity Monitor on Mac
To access Mac's resource monitor the path is a bit different if compared with Windows task manager, where you are able just to click Ctrl, Alt and Delete buttons in keyboard. To launch activity monitor there is three actual ways. you can start your Mac's task manager by opening the finder and locating applications then Utilities and there you will find Activity monitor or just by searching in launchpad, also to use a Spotlight in order to quickly access from keyboard, which is probably the most comfortable way.
- Press Command and Spacebar at the same time, to bring up the Spotlight search field
- Type in Activity Monitor and hit Return button, when Activity Monitor populates in the Spotlight results
Since Activity Monitor is really useful and has a lot of permissions, it will help you to sort task by CPU usage, and let you know who's taking most resource, also you can sort by other criterions like name, memory usage, process ID. It owns a search box where you can type the name of process and find it very easy to spectate it's statistics. What is more, Activity monitor not only displays list of applications together with their information, but also shows your computer's system level tasks, kernel tasks, processes that are launched from another accounts, literally all running process will be displayed.
Killing or stopping a task/process via Activity Monitor
Even the perfectly developed applications may crash due to various reasons and freeze. Closing or stopping a frozen app might be a little bit complicated task, so the easiest way is to use Activity monitor. To close your frozen application just find it in the list or use the search field, once you found it simply click on your frozen program or task and on the octagonal button with the x inside to close or force close.
You will see a warning message and options to choose force quit, cancel or quit. If your app is unresponsive you can click force quit, this will immediately kill that process and application will stop.
Alternatively, an force quit option is available to access straight from your keyboard by clicking Command, Option and Escape keys at the same time which opens a Force Quit Applications Manager, where you will see a list of running programs and a force quit option. This is useful when you need to close frozen app without inspecting system parameters.
Check your Mac system parameters
Activity monitor displays information not only about your process, but also about your computer. In the bottom of window you are able to see CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk and Network loads and activities, by switching the tabs in top. Checking those stats will help you to troubleshoot who's responsible for your reduced performance of your Mac.
Short description what each tab displays:
- The CPU pane shows how each process affects the processor activity.
- The Memory pane displays the amount of RAM used by each application.
- Choose Energy tab and you'll see the overall energy consumption together with the scheduled amounts for each process.
- In the Disk pane is displayed the amounts of data written and read throw your hard drive.
- Check the Network pane to find out which processes transfers the greatest amounts of data.
If you prefer to see live system stats and activity, minimize the Activity monitor window, then right-click on icon in the Dock to enable various system activity monitors, which will show live graphs instead of standard app icon. You can choose between CPU usage and history, network usage or disk activity monitors displayed instead of icon.
Recommendation for new Mac users
Until you get used to Spotlight and how their Mac works, we suggest to keep Activity Monitor pinned in your Dock for easy access. To keep an icon in Dock just right-click then choose Options and select Keep in Dock. Luckily you will seldom use Mac's task manager, since Mac OS and applications within it has a better performance than Windows, but it's always good to have fast access, in anything crashed. Usually the most common crashes are web browser's subprocess or plugin failures, like Java or Flash messing up and freezing an program or tab in the process.
Video Showing how to open and use Mac's task manager:
Is your Mac running painfully slow? Is it hot to the touch? Sounds like a jet engine? Or are you generally curious about what goes on inside?
Well, you can get a sneak peek at all your Mac’s activity by accessing the Activity Monitor – Mac’s equivalent to the task manager.
Task manager may have originated on Windows computers, but Mac users adopted the term and used it interchangeably for Mac’s Activity Monitor.
Any active process or task taking place on your Mac will be shown in the Activity Monitor. Users can view, manage, and end activity in a simple dashboard.
For example, if Slack is eating up lots of processing power and slowing down your Mac, you can force quit the application to free up some space.
How to use Activity Monitor
To access Activity Monitor, you’ll first need to find it.
How to find task manager on Mac
- Access the Spotlight Menu by clicking the magnifying glass at the very top right of your display or by entering the keyboard shortcut Command + Space.
- Type in “Activity Monitor” in the search bar and click Return.
With the Activity Monitor pulled up, you’ll notice five tabs near the top of the dashboard. Here’s an overview of each of those important tabs:
- CPU – Stands for “central processing unit.” Essentially, CPU is how much processing power is dedicated to each task.
- Memory – Shows how much of your Mac’s RAM, or random-access memory, is dedicated to each task and application. RAM helps your Mac complete tasks and find information quicker.
- Energy – Monitors how much energy each application opened in the past 12 hours has consumed. Higher energy output means more stress on your Mac’s battery.
- Disk – Each task and application reads and writes a different amount of data on your Mac’s disk. This tab monitors that activity.
- Network – This is how much data is being sent and received from applications connected to the internet.
I understand a lot of tech lingo was just thrown at you, so let’s dive into each of the five tabs to clear things up.
CPU
The CPU is considered the “brains” of the computer, and it’s where most of your Mac’s calculations, logic, and decision making will take place.
Some of the more important columns to look out for in this tab include % CPU, CPU Time, and Threads. Below is a breakdown of each of these columns.
- % CPU – This number shows the percentage of CPU dedicated to each task. A high % CPU indicates a task may slow down your Mac, increase temperature and fan activity, affect battery performance, and more.
- CPU Time – This number shows how much time the CPU has been dedicated to each task. You can see from the picture above that my Mac spends a lot of time processing information from Google Chrome.
- Threads – This number shows how many threads are dedicated to each task. What is a thread, you may ask? A thread is a sequence of instructions your Mac requires to complete a task. More threads may indicate a larger task.
At the bottom of the CPU tab, you’ll notice a chart with red and blue activities being monitored. This chart breaks down the total CPU usage, or load, on your Mac.
Red indicates how much CPU your system is using. It’s common to see anywhere from 5-15 percent of CPU dedicated to the system to keep your Mac up and running.
Blue indicates how much CPU the user is using. Anywhere from 30-50 percent is common, depending on how many applications the user has open at once.
Any CPU not being used is referred to as idle CPU. This number is always fluctuating.
Memory
If CPU is considered the “brain” of the computer, then its memory, or RAM, is considered its neural connections.
Some of the more important columns to look out for in this tab include Memory and Compressed Memory. Below is a breakdown of both of these columns.
- Memory – This number shows how much RAM each task and application is swallowing up. Large amounts of memory – typically in the hundreds of megabytes – may affect your Mac’s performance.
- Compressed Memory – This number shows how much compression has been applied to a task’s memory usage. The less compression, the better.
At the bottom of the memory tab, you’ll notice a chart with mostly green activity being monitored. This chart breaks down how much compression, or memory pressure, is being applied on your Mac.
As mentioned before, no compression is ideal. However, sometimes an application demands the use of more memory. This is where compression kicks in.
In this case, you may see the chart turn from green to yellow, and sometimes even red.
Yellow indicates slight compression is occurring, whereas red indicates max compression. Staying out of the red is optimal for your Mac’s performance.
Energy
The energy tab reveals how much total energy is being used by your Mac. This is calculated over a 12 hour period and factors in everything from CPU to RAM.
Some of the more important columns to look out for in this tab include Energy Impact, App Nap, and Preventing Sleep. Below is a breakdown of each of these columns.
- Energy Impact – This number shows how much energy is currently being used by each application. The lower energy impact, the better on your battery life.
- App Nap – Applications on your Mac that support App Nap consume little energy when they’re not being used. For example, an app you have minimized will consume less energy with App Nap.
- Preventing Sleep – Applications that prevent sleep will keep the Mac display on until the user exits out of them.
At the bottom of the energy tab, you’ll notice charts with blue and green activity being monitored. These charts visualize energy impact and battery strength over the past 12 hours.
Disk
Every process on your Mac both reads data from the disk drive and writes data on the disk drive. It is essentially a storage and organization mechanism.
Some of the more important columns to look out for in this tab include Bytes Written and Bytes Read. Below is a breakdown of both of these columns.
- Bytes Written – This number shows how many bytes from this process have been written onto the disk drive.
- Bytes Read – This number shows how many bytes from this process have been read from the disk drive.
At the bottom of the disk tab, you’ll notice a chart with red and blue activity being monitored. This chart visualizes the data being read and written.
TIP: You might want to free up some disk space if your computer is starting to lag. |
Network
Applications which utilize an internet connection will both send and receive bytes, as well as packets of data.
Some of the more important columns to look out for in this tab include Sent Bytes and Received Bytes. Below is a breakdown of both of these columns.
- Sent Bytes – This number shows how many bytes from this process have been sent to a network.
- Received Bytes – This number shows how many bytes from this process have been received from a network.
At the bottom of the network tab, you’ll notice a chart with red and blue activity being monitored. This chart visualizes the packets of data being sent and received from a network. A packet is essentially how information is transmitted over the Web.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Now that you have a basic understanding of the Activity Monitor and its important functions, let’s move on to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding the Mac task manager.
How do I force quit a task?
If you’re already in the Activity Monitor, you might as well quit or force quit a task here.
You can do so by highlighting a process and clicking on the octagonal icon in the upper left-hand corner. I provide an example of this below:
If you’re not in the Activity Monitor, there is a keyboard shortcut for force quitting.
This shortcut is Command + Option + Esc.
Related: While we're force quitting tasks, learn how to force quit apps on MacOS. |
Which tasks are safe to quit?
Mostly tasks that can be seen in the energy tab.
Abruptly ending tasks without knowing what you’re doing can cause serious problems to your Mac, so if your performance is suffering, it’s best to see a professional.
Why is kernel task using so much memory?
You may notice a process name of “kernel task” at or near the top of your memory. Worry not, as you’ll see its compressed memory is extremely low – if not at 0 bytes.
One of the main purposes of the kernel task is to monitor the temperature of your CPU.
Who is the root user?
You may notice a variety of users, mostly yourself, next to each process name. But one user, in particular, shows up a lot as well. This is the root user.
Do not force quit tasks under the root user. This is considered the “superuser” with read and write privileges to different areas of the system – important to your Mac’s performance.
Wrapping up
That’s it! You’re now aware of what’s going on behind the scenes with your Mac. Next time it’s acting up, check out the Activity Monitor to locate the root of the problem.
Many of the instructions provided in this article were done through Mac’s screenshot feature. To take high-quality screenshots of your own, check out our guide on the five easiest ways to take screenshots on Mac.
Additionally, check out:
- How to Turn Off Two-Factor Authentication on Your Mac