Published 2020-05-15 by TechNet New England
Activity Monitor shows what processes are running on your Mac and how much CPU, memory, disk, and network each one is using. ## How to Open Activity Monitor **Spotlight:** Press **Command + Space**, type "Activity Monitor," press Enter. **Finder:** Applications > Utilities > Activity Monitor. ## CPU Tab Shows what processes are using the most processing power. Sort by **% CPU** to find the top consumers. If a process is stuck at high CPU usage and the application is unresponsive, select it and click the **X** button (top left) to force quit. ## Memory Tab Shows RAM usage per process. The key indicator is **Memory Pressure** at the bottom: **Green:** Memory is healthy. **Yellow:** Memory is under pressure. Consider closing applications. **Red:** Memory is critically low. Close applications immediately or restart. Sort by **Memory** to see the top consumers. ## Energy Tab (Laptops) Shows which applications are using the most battery power. Useful when your MacBook is draining faster than expected. ## Disk Tab Shows read/write activity. High disk activity can cause slowness, especially on older Macs with hard drives instead of SSDs. ## Network Tab Shows which processes are sending and receiving data. Useful for identifying unexpected network activity that could indicate malware or a background process downloading large files. ## Common Uses **Mac is slow:** Check CPU and Memory tabs. Find and close the process using the most resources. **Fan is running loud:** Check CPU tab. A process using high CPU generates heat. **Battery draining fast:** Check Energy tab. Close power-hungry applications. **Suspicious activity:** Check Network tab for processes sending large amounts of data unexpectedly. ## Force Quitting Applications 1. Select the process in Activity Monitor. 2. Click the **X** button in the top left toolbar. 3. Choose **Quit** (graceful) or **Force Quit** (if the app is frozen). Be careful not to force quit system processes. If you do not recognize a process name, search for it online before ending it.