In Mac OS X, how do I quit an application that isn't responding?

In Mac OS X, you may occasionally find that applications lock up and do not respond to any commands, including Quit. When this happens, sometimes the only solution is to issue a Force Quit command.

Force quitting an application will not save your latest changes, but it will often allow you to revive the misbehaving application without restarting your entire computer. With Mac OS X, you can usually relaunch the application after you force quit it, so you can continue to work normally.

To force quit an application, from the Apple menu, choose Force Quit... . Then select the misbehaving application from the list, and click Force quit. You can also bring up this window by pressing Command-Option-Esc.

Note: You cannot quit the Finder; the only option available to you is Relaunch. Clicking Relaunch will reload the Finder, after which you'll be able to continue to work.

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