Force Quit Not Working on Mac

Even the most stable applications can sometimes malfunction, causing them to freeze or become unresponsive. Although it may seem a bit drastic, forcing the misbehaving application to quit and then starting it again is oftentimes the fastest way to return it to normal. Mac users have several methods to Force Quit an application, such as:

• Press Command+Option+Escape on the keyboard. Select the app from the list and press Force Quit.
• Go to the Apple menu, select 'Force Quit,' choose the malfunctioning app, and click on the 'Force Quit' button.
• While holding down the Option key on the keyboard click on the app's icon on the Dock. Select 'Force Quit' from the available options.

However, in some rare cases, the application may still refuse to shut down. These require a bit more drastic measures.

Shut down applications via the Activity Monitor

The Activity Monitor is a convenient tool that allows you to manage the currently active applications and processes, as well as their performance. 

1. Open your Applications folder, go to the 'Utilities' subfolder, locate Activity Monitor, and launch it.
2. In the Activity Monitor window, click on the CPU column to sort the active processes according to the CPU resources they consume at the moment. 
3. The app that refuses to close should be around the top of the list. 
4. Select it and click on 'Quit Process.'

Shut down applications via Terminal

Although it may look a bit confusing at first glance, Terminal is an extremely useful tool that allows users to perform a variety of different tasks by entering the appropriate command.

1. Open your Applications folder, then 'Utilities, and launch Terminal from its icon.
2. In the Terminal window, type the ps -ax command and press Return on the keyboard.
3. You will be presented with a list of all running apps and processes.
4. Locate the frozen process and take note of the number displayed on the far left of the row. That is its PID. 
5. Now, type kill PID (substitute PID with the number from the previous step) and press Return.