How to Force Quit an Application in Mac OS X

Few things are more frustrating when working on a Mac than a crashed program. Even worse is when a program crashes and stays stuck running on your system. To solve this problem, you’ll need to Force Quit the offending application. the method below will solve your problem.

Method 1 of 4: Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Press ⌘ Command+⌥ Option+⎋ Esc simultaneously. This will open the open the Force Quit Applications window.

• Command is the button with the looped square pattern (⌘) on it. On pre-2008 Apple keyboards it also had an Apple icon on it. It is in the bottom-left of your keyboard.
• ⎇ Alt/⌥ Option key is located at the bottom-left of your keyboard.
• ⎋ Esc (Escape) is located at the top-left corner of your keyboard.

1. 
   2
   Select the application you want to force quit. If the program has crashed, it will typically say "Not Responding" next to it in this menu.
2. 
   3
   Click the button that says "Force Quit". This will forcefully end the program that has crashed.
3. 4
   Force quit your front-most application. You can force quit your active window by holding down ⌘ Command+⌥ Option+⇧ Shift+⎋ Esc for three seconds. This will force quit an unresponsive window that you are currently using.