How to Open and Use Activity Monitor on Mac: 3 Tips to Optimize Your Mac

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We'll show you how to open Activity Monitor using Spotlight, the Dock, Finder, and keyboard shortcuts. We'll also take a look at each of Activity Monitor's tabs so you can make the most of its features.

Whether you're new to the Mac or an experienced power user, learning to make the most of the Activity Monitor is crucial. So, let's delve into the details of this handy tool.

#1 What is Activity Monitor on a MacBook Pro/Air? Activity Monitor is a built-in utility on Apple's macOS operating system that enables users to view and manage the system activities of their Mac computers. With Activity Monitor, you can see running applications and processes, resource usage (such as CPU, GPU, memory, and disk), and network activity. It also allows you to monitor power consumption, force quit unresponsive apps, and adjust energy settings. In short, Activity Monitor is a powerful tool that helps you understand and optimize your Mac's performance.

Activity Monitor is a utility application pre-installed on all macOS devices, including MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac. It aids users in monitoring and managing system performance by providing in-depth data about its processes and resources. In other words, Activity Monitor serves as the "Task Manager" for Mac devices.

It's essential for any Mac user who needs to diagnose performance issues, identify resource hogs, or make their computer run more efficiently.

Mac computers come with a utility called “Activity Monitor,” which displays comprehensive data about the programs running on your computer and how resources are being used. It provides useful information about your Mac's performance and helps you monitor and control many of its operations.

With Activity Monitor, you can keep an eye on everything from CPU and memory usage to power consumption, disk reads and writes, and network traffic. You can use it to see which processes are using the most system resources, monitor everything that's going on, and address any issues that arise.

How to Open Activity Monitor on a Mac Opening Activity Monitor on your Mac is straightforward. Follow these steps: 1. Click on the Apple menu () in the top-left corner of the screen. 2. From the drop-down menu, select "Utilities." 3. In the opened "Utilities" window, find and double-click "Activity Monitor." Alternatively, you can open Activity Monitor using Spotlight search: 1. Press Command (⌘) and Space on your keyboard to activate Spotlight search. 2. Type "Activity Monitor" into the search box, then click on it from the results to launch the application. Now, Activity Monitor should be open, allowing you to view performance information about your Mac, including CPU, memory, energy, disk, and network usage.

Activity Monitor can be accessed through the Applications folder or by using Spotlight search. When you launch Activity Monitor, it displays information about ongoing processes, resource usage, and more. Let's delve into its main features and capabilities so you can utilize it to optimize your Mac's performance.

The Activity Monitor on a Mac can be accessed in several ways, making it more convenient. Here are a few methods to open the Task Manager on a Mac:

Method 1: Press the Mac Spotlight shortcut “Command + Space,” and type Activity Monitor into the search box.

2. Alternatively, click the Spotlight search icon in the top-right corner, type Activity Monitor, and then choose it from the search results.

Method 3: Open the Finder, go to “Applications > Utilities,” and then double-click the “Activity Monitor” icon.

By launching Activity Monitor, you get an exhaustive list of all the processes and resources currently in use on your Mac, along with the ability to force quit unresponsive apps. Thanks to its tabbed user interface, you can keep an eye on multiple performance aspects of your system at any time.

We'll look at how to use Activity Monitor to keep an eye on and control your Mac's performance.

How to Use Activity Monitor on a Mac Activity Monitor is a utility on macOS that allows you to monitor your computer's performance and activity. You can use it to view running processes, manage memory, track disk usage, and check energy consumption. Here's how to use Activity Monitor: 1. **Open Activity Monitor:** - Click the Apple menu in the top-left corner of the screen, and select "Utilities." - In the "Utilities" window, find and double-click the "Activity Monitor" icon. 2. **Understand the interface:** - Activity Monitor has several tabs: "Process," "Memory," "Energy," "Disk," and "Network." - The "Process" tab displays running applications and background processes. - The "Memory" tab shows memory usage. - The "Energy" tab indicates an app's impact on battery life. - The "Disk" tab shows disk read and write activities. - The "Network" tab displays network traffic information. 3. **Search for a specific process:** - In the "Process" tab, sort processes by CPU, Memory, Energy, Disk, or Network usage. - Type the name of a process to search for it specifically. 4. **Force Quit an application:** - Select the app or process you want to quit by clicking on it. - Click the "X" button in the top-left corner (if available) and confirm the "Force Quit" prompt. 5. **Monitor system resources:** - Observe the top charts to see real-time usage of CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network. - Switch between displayed content by clicking the chart titles. 6. **Use view options:** - Click the circle icon in the top-left corner to choose different views, like List, Pie, or Stacked. 7. **Close Activity Monitor:** - When you're done viewing or managing processes, click the red circle button in the top-left corner to close Activity Monitor. Activity Monitor is a powerful tool for understanding your Mac's performance and troubleshooting issues. However, avoid Force Quitting system processes unless you know what you're doing.

We offer a video walkthrough of Activity Monitor's features and capabilities to help you get familiar with the tool. If you're a visual learner, this video will walk you through opening Activity Monitor, understanding its layout, and quitting unneeded processes.

There are three important moments in the video.

• 00:12 - How to Open Activity Monitor
• 00:22 - Overview of Activity Monitor
• 01:01 - How to Force Quit an Application in Activity Monitor

Let's now go through each of Activity Monitor's tabs to see how you can use them:

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

The “CPU” label shows which apps are using the most CPU resources on your Mac. It displays the CPU usage for each running process, making it easy to see which apps are hogging system resources.

? Memory

The "Memory" tab displays detailed information about your Mac's memory usage, similar to how you would check your Mac's RAM. It also shows the memory usage for each process and total memory usage. By monitoring this, you can find the processes that are using the most memory.

With the Memory tab in Activity Monitor, you can free up space on your Mac to install new apps.

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Energy

The “Energy” tab shows you how much power each app on your Mac uses. You can monitor your device's battery usage and easily spot any power-hungry apps.

? Disk

The “Disks” tab shows disk activity on your Mac, displaying the transfer rates for data being read from and written to them. You can see which apps are using the disk the most and adjust their permissions accordingly.

Network

The “Network” tab shows how your Mac is using the network. It displays bandwidth usage and how much data each process is sending and receiving. By monitoring network activity, you can identify which apps are using the most bandwidth.

Cache

The “Caches” tab shows information about how caching works on your Mac. It displays the total amount of data cached by each process. You can see how much cache different programs are using at any time.

Most of the time, you can safely delete redundant cache files without affecting app functionality. However, if you accidentally delete important cache files, you can use data recovery software to recover deleted cache files on Mac.

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### Extra Credit: Tweak Your Mac with Activity Monitor

You can use Activity Monitor to keep an eye on your Mac's performance and optimize it using its built-in features. In this article, we'll cover two optimization strategies: quitting inactive processes and preventing apps from opening at startup on your Mac.

Method 1: Quit Unresponsive or Unused Processes

Activity Monitor lets you stop a frozen Mac app without disrupting other processes. Here's how:

Step 1: Open Activity Monitor.

Step 2: Look for unresponsive or inactive processes in Activity Monitor. The process name will be displayed.

Step 4: Click the “X” button in the Activity Monitor toolbar, choose “Force Quit” from the “View” menu, or press the Force Quit shortcut “Command + Q.”

Step 5: The system will ask if you want to force it to quit. Click "Force Quit" to stop the program.

While force quitting unresponsive apps can boost your Mac's performance and speed up its startup, it may lead to data loss if you don't save the changes before doing so. In this case, recovering lost data from your Mac can be challenging without professional data recovery software like theMac Data Recovery Wizard.

If you accidentally lose important data while closing a program, including recovering unsaved files like an unsaved Word document on Mac, an unsaved Excel file, or a PowerPoint presentation, you can use a Mac Data Recovery tool. It's a reliable and powerful data recovery software that can restore lost or deleted files from various storage devices.

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Method 2: Disable Unnecessary Login Items

Login items launch as soon as your Mac boots up. Too many of them can slow down your Mac's startup time. You can quickly identify and get rid of any extra login items with the Activity Monitor. Here's how:

Step 1: Open the Activity Monitor and click the Energy tab.

Step 2: Look for operations with high energy impact in the “Average Energy Impact” column. These are your power-hungry apps.

Step three: Note the power-hungry apps, and start them manually.

Step 5: Click on “Users and Groups.”

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Step 6: Click on “Login Items” under “Users & Groups.”

Step 7: Select the login item you want to disable, and click the “-” button at the bottom of the list to remove it.

Choose the login items you want to delete, and then click "Delete" .

Step 8: Repeat this process to remove any other extra logins, as necessary.

Method 3: Check for Malware on Your Mac with Activity Monitor

Mac's Activity Monitor may also identify and monitor abnormal processes and behavior that exhibit malware characteristics. It doesn't scan for viruses like antivirus software, but it can reveal suspicious activity. Learn how to use Activity Monitor for malware detection:

Step 1: Launch Activity Monitor from Applications > Utilities or by searching with Spotlight.

Click the “CPU” tab in Activity Monitor. 

Third, check for unfamiliar or suspicious programs that are using a lot of CPU or have odd-sounding names. If the process name matches that of known malware, it's probably malicious.

4. Click on the process you believe to be malware, then click the “X” button in the toolbar to Force Quit the program.

Step Five: In Activity Monitor, check the Network tab for any unusual network activity, which could indicate communication with an external server by a malware program.

Activity Monitor might provide some insights, but it cannot replace an antivirus solution. Rely on a trusted macOS antivirus software like TotalAV for comprehensive malware protection. This award-winning antivirus protection guards against various threats that could compromise your system. It is available on multiple devices, including Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, ensuring the secure operation of your systems.

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Conclusion

The Activity Monitor on macOS helps manage system resources and aids in diagnosing performance issues with your Mac. Quitting sluggish processes and removing unnecessary login items are among the recommendations to further optimize your Mac's performance using Activity Monitor.

Utilize the Activity Monitor to optimize your Mac's performance, and employ a Mac Data Recovery Wizard tool to retrieve lost data, ensuring a smooth and efficient Mac experience.

Frequently Asked Questions About Mac Activity Monitor

Here are some questions people often ask when searching for “Activity Monitor Mac”:

How to Find the Activity Monitor on Your Mac

You can access Activity Monitor on your Mac by going to “Applications” > “Utilities,” or by using Spotlight search with “Command + Space.”

2. What is Activity Monitor on my computer? Activity Monitor is a system tool on macOS that displays which applications and processes are running on your Mac, along with how much of your system resources they are using, such as CPU, memory, disk, and network. You can find it in Finder under "Applications" -> "Utilities." In Activity Monitor, you can monitor and manage the performance of your Mac, for instance, by forcibly quitting an application if you notice it's consuming too much CPU resources. It also helps you understand the resource utilization of your computer when performing various tasks.

Activity Monitor is a built-in macOS app that displays real-time information about processes, apps, and system resources on your computer. You can monitor CPU usage, memory usage, energy impact, disk activity, network activity, and more.

3. What is Mac Activity Monitor Memory?

"Activity Monitor Mac Memory" refers to the "Memory" tab in the Activity Monitor, which displays information about the memory usage on your Mac. It shows the amount of memory in use, cached files, memory usage by applications, compressed memory, and other memory-related statistics.

4. What is the keyboard shortcut for Activity Monitor?

The keyboard shortcut to open Activity Monitor on a Mac is "Option + Command + Esc," which will bring up the "Force Quit Applications" window. From there, you can select Activity Monitor and click "Force Quit" to open it.