Keep in mind the Option key on a Mac is often labeled as “Alt”, so Command + Option / Alt + Escape on Mac is the same thing. Just like ending a program in Windows, forcing an app to exit on the Mac will take down the app immediately by killing the underlying process, which can end a stuck or frozen app but it typically means any data that is in that application and unsaved becomes lost. Then, you then confirm that you want to immediately quit to end that application process instantly. From here, you simply click on a program name then choose “Force Quit”. Next, once you press those keys together, a task manager of sorts will appear.
Let’s review how this keyboard shortcut works on Mac, it’s pretty easy and three basic steps: How to CTRL + ALT + DEL on Macįirst, hit Command + Option + Escape key sequence on a Mac, here are where the keys are located: This is the closest single equivalent there is, in that it ends program process whether they are stuck or not, basically forcing them to quit. Hitting Command + Option + Escape on a Mac is basically the same thing as hitting Control + Alt + Delete on a Windows PC. That special keystroke is what we’re going to focus on here since it’s the closet equivalent for Mac users coming from the Windows world, with the same type of functionality which allows Mac OS users to end a program process for whatever reason.ĬOMMAND + OPTION + ESCAPE is the CONTROL + ALT + DELETE Equivalent on Mac It turns out there are a few ways to end programs on Mac OS X, but there is one Mac keyboard sequence in particular that is most similar to Ctrl+Alt+Del from Windows.