Controlling Open Applications

Mac OS X provides many ways to control open applications, including these:

• You can switch among open applications by clicking the icon of the open application to which you want to switch on the Dock.

• You can also move among open applications using the -Tab or Shift--Tab keys. When you press these keys, a list of the currently open applications appears (see Figure 8.9). The active application has a box around it and its name appears under the box. You can move into a different application by pressing the -Tab or Shift--Tab keys until the application you want is selected, or you can click an application to move into it.

  Figure 8.9. This list appears when you press the -Tab or Shift--Tab keys.

  

• Use Exposé to show all open windows and click a window in the application to which you want to switch.

• Hide applications quickly by either pressing -H or choosing Application, Hide where Application is the name of the active application.

• Quit an open application by holding down the Control key while clicking the application's icon on the Dock. From the pop-up menu, select Quit.

• There are several ways to force a hung application to quit. Press Option-Command-Esc to open the Force Quit Applications window, select the application you want to quit, and click Force Quit (see Figure 8.10). (If an application is hung, its name appears in red in the Force Quit Applications window.) Open the Activity Monitor application (Applications/Utilities); select the application (process) you want to quit; and select Process, Quit (or press Option--Q). You can also use the Unix kill command in the Terminal application along with the process number of the application you want to force to quit. Yet another way is to choose the Apple menu and then Force Quit.

  Figure 8.10. You can force an application to quit by opening the Force Quit Applications window, selecting the application you want to quit, and clicking Force Quit.