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How to force quit OS X menu bar apps

If a troublesome Mac app isn't listed on the Force Quit menu, where do you turn?

Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
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Matt Elliott

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Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

To force quit a Mac app, you can call up the Force Quit Applications menu from the Apple menu button in the upper-left corner or by hitting Command-Option-Esc. But if it's a menu bar app that's hanging or otherwise giving you problems, you won't find it listed in the Force Quit window. In such instances, you will need to use Activity Monitor.

Here's what to do:

1. Open Activity Monitor.

2. Find the app listed or search for it using the search bar in the upper-right corner.

3. Click on the app to highlight it.

4. Click the Force a process to quit button, which is located in the upper-left corner and has a stop sign with an X on it.

5. Click the Quit button to quit the app, and if that doesn't do it, follow the same steps and hit the Force Quit button.