On a Mac, the Task Manager is called the “Activity Monitor,” and it is a utility that allows you to monitor the performance of your Mac’s system resources, including CPU usage, memory usage, and disk activity. Here’s how to use the Activity Monitor:
- Launch the Activity Monitor by searching for it in Spotlight (the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of your screen) or by navigating to “Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor.”
- Once you have opened the Activity Monitor, you will see a list of processes that are currently running on your Mac. The processes are organized by category (CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk, Network, and Cache) and you can switch between the different categories by clicking on the tabs at the top of the window.
- To sort the processes by a specific metric (such as CPU usage), click on the column header for that metric. Clicking the header once will sort the list in ascending order, and clicking it again will sort the list in descending order.
- If you want to force a process to quit, select it from the list and click the “X” button in the top left corner of the window. You will be prompted to confirm that you want to quit the process.
- To view more detailed information about a specific process, select it from the list and click the “i” button in the top left corner of the window. This will open a window with additional information about the process, including its CPU usage, memory usage, and disk activity.
- You can also use the search bar in the top right corner of the window to search for a specific process by name.
The Activity Monitor is a useful tool for monitoring your Mac’s system resources and diagnosing performance issues. It can help you identify which processes are using the most system resources and allow you to take action to optimize your Mac’s performance.