Comments on: How to Kill a Mac OS X Application That Just Won’t Quit

By: Of Zen and Computing

Of Zen and Computing — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Good point, Kailden. I do mean this as a last resort.

By: Kailden

Kailden — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:01:07 +0000

kill -9 might be overkill in some situations--it's safer to approach it this way.

By: Of Zen and Computing

Of Zen and Computing — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 21:01:05 +0000

Thanks for the additional advice, Shruti. In my case the “Force Quit” context menu option wasn’t available, but it would be for many others who are dealing with hanging applications — and when they are available, your suggestions are a little less… intimidating… than the Terminal.

By: Shruti

Shruti — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 20:37:56 +0000

You can also either click and hold on the icon in the dock and force quit, or do it through the Activity Monitor app, or Cmd-Option-Esc and choose an app to force quit.