Novice Mac OS users often wonder: where is mac task manager and what keyboard shortcut starts it, how to use it to close a locked program, etc. The most experienced wonder how to create a shortcut to start System Monitor and if there is an alternative to this application.
This tutorial covers all these issues in detail: starting with how and where to start the Mac OS Task Manager, and ending with creating hotkeys to start it and some programs to replace it.
System monitoring is the Mac OS task manager
The counterpart of Task Manager in Mac OS is the System Monitor application. (Activity Monitor). You can find it in Finder – Programs – Utilities. But a quicker way to open System Monitor is to use Spotlight search: just click the search icon on the right menu bar and start typing “System Monitor” to quickly find the result and execute it.
If you need to run Task Manager many times, you can drag the System Monitoring icon from programs to the Dock so it's always available there.
Just like on Windows, Mac OS “Task Manager” shows running processes, makes it possible to categorize by CPU load, memory usage and other parameters, view laptop network, disk and battery usage and force closing running programs. To close a suspended program in System Monitor, double click on it and in the window that opens click on the button “Finalize”.
In the next window, you can select between two buttons: “Delete” Y “power off by force”. The first initiates a simple shutdown of the program, the second closes even the stopped program that does not respond to normal actions.
Also I suggest you look in the menu “Watch” of utility “System monitoring”, There you will find:
- In “Dock Icon” you can configure what exactly will be displayed on the icon when system monitoring is running, as an example, there may be a cpu load indicator.
- Show only selected processes: user processes, system processes, have windows, hierarchical list (like a tree), configure a filter to show only those running programs and processes that you need.
Briefly: and Mac OS, task manager is built-in system monitoring utility, quite useful and moderately simple, but effective.
Keyboard shortcut key for starting Mac OS System Monitor (Task Manager)
By default, Mac OS does not have a keyboard shortcut like Ctrl + Alt + Del to start system monitoring, but it is feasible to create one. Before proceeding to create it: if you only need the hotkeys to force close a hung program, there is such a shortcut: hold down the key Option (Alt) + Command + Shift + Esc in 3 seconds, the active window will be closed even if the program is not responding.
How to create a shortcut to start system monitoring
There are several alternatives to assign a hotkey combination to start system monitoring on Mac OS, I suggest using one that does not require any additional software:
- Run Automator (you can find it in shows or by searching spotlight). In the window that opens, click on “new document”.
- Please select “fast action” and click the button “Choose”.
- in the second column, double click on “run program”.
- On the right, select the program “system monitoring” (you will have to click on “Other” at the bottom of the list and point to Programs – Utilities – system monitoring).
- On the menu, choose File – Save and specify a quick action name, What “Run system monitoring”. Automator can be closed.
- Go to system settings (click on Apple in the top right – system configuration) and open the element “Keyboard”.
- In the tab “Keyboard shortcuts”, abra “Services” and find the section “Basic” below. In it you will find the quick action that you have created, should be checked, but without the shortcut for now.
- Click on the word “no” where there should be a shortcut to start system monitoring, later in “Add” (or just double click), then click on the shortcut that will open the “Task Manager”. This shortcut must contain the Option key (Alt) the command (or both at the same time) and something else, like a letter.
After adding the shortcut, you can always run system monitoring with them.
Alternative task managers for Mac OS
If for some reason monitoring the system as a task manager does not suit you, there are alternative programs for the same purpose. Of the simple and free, highlights a task manager with the simple name of “Ctrl Alt Delete”, available on the App Store.
The program interface shows the processes that are running with the opportunity to simply close (Quit) and force close (Force Quit) of the programs, and also contains actions to close the session, restart, go to sleep and turn off the mac.
By default, Ctrl Alt Del is already configured with a startup shortcut: Ctrl + Alt (Option) + Recoil, which you can change if necessary.
Of quality payment system monitoring utilities (which focus more on displaying information about system load and beautiful widgets), iStat Menus and Monit stand out, that you can also find in the Apple App Store.
