Using the ‘view’ menu allows users to choose which processes are shown in each of the five categories, be that all processes hierarchically, user processes, system processes, active processes, and more. Also, certain third party Mac monitoring apps, such as iStat Menus, can allow you to view the processes by clicking on the CPU icon in the menu bar.Īctivity Monitor, the built-in system monitoring utility, is the best way to view all processes currently running on the Mac, and from here manage them based on how they affect the computer's performance.

There are various ways to view running apps and processes in macOS: looking at the Dock, opening the Force Quit Applications window, using the Terminal, and finally by checking Activity Monitor.

This is a situation that no doubt everyone has encountered at least a few times… How to View Processes Then there are things like removable media and mounted disk images, where processes hidden from plain view could well prevent the media from safely ejecting. Ending this process will improve the overall performance of the computer, especially in systems with less RAM. Or, out of the blue, the Mac slows down because one of these processes start to run, suddenly eating up 100% of the CPU. If you’re the sort who likes to keep on top of the apps running on your system, then you’ve probably already encountered those stubborn processes that, despite quitting the application, keep behind-the-scenes core or periphery application processes running in the background, consuming processing power and draining your battery.

Mac os list running processes