How To Stop Programs From Running In The Background On Mac [2023]

Are you not liking the way your Mac is working? Want to increase its performance and speed? Yes, you are at the right place, here we will discuss the reasons & solutions due to which your Mac might be running slower than usual.

Generally, frozen apps that refuse to quit are the main reason for this problem. With that being said, the best way to deal with this problem is to stop the Mac background process. The easiest way to do so is to use an application that helps deal with login items.

In this tutorial, we will explain all about the app and the manual ways using which you can stop background processes, creating issues.

So, without any further delay, let us learn about the 3 best ways to kill processes and keep Mac running speedily.

Before We Start, Here’s An Important Tip: To optimize your Mac and free up gigabytes of storage space taken up by junk files, caches, log files, and other unwanted data, try using Cleanup My System. This amazing and professional Mac cleaning & optimization tool detects old/large files, helps clean privacy and identity exposing traces, and allows uninstalling useless applications to reclaim space. To use it, download it from the button provided below and run a thorough cleaning & optimization task with the One-Click Care module! Click Here to Download Cleanup My System!

How To Stop Background Processes Running on Mac?

To learn how you can kill the background processes read the blog till the end. Here we will discuss the 3 best and easiest ways to kill Mac background processes.

3 Best Ways to Force Quit Mac Background Running Processes

Method 1- Force Quit frozen applications

When an app refuses to close it’s a sign of it being unresponsive. This means, even though they are not working, they are still taking system resources. In such cases, the best way to get rid of these apps and to save power is to force close the apps. To do so, follow the steps below :

1. Click the Apple log in the Mac menu bar

2. Select Force Quit from the list of options.

3. Next, choose the frozen application, click Force Quit. This will end the task forcefully.

4. Confirm the action by again clicking Force Quit.

This will instantly close the frozen application. Restart your Mac and experience the difference.

Alternatively, you can press Command+Option+Esc keys to access the Force Quit tool. Also, you can use Activity Monitor to identify apps taking up too much system resources and making things difficult. To learn how to use it, follow the next method.

Method 2 – Kill Running Processes using Activity Monitor

To see what is running on your Mac, you should always use Activity Monitor. This in-built utility helps identify how apps are consuming resources. It shows CPU consumption, RAM usage, and storage used. It also allows keeping an eye on resource-hungry apps.

When your Mac starts to run slower than usual, head to Activity Monitor and get a list of all running processes. Sort them by CPU usage, RAM, or power usage. This will help locate the culprit, once that’s identified, kill it and boost your Mac’s performance.

To use it, follow the steps below:

1. From the Apple menu bar, click Go > Utilities

2. Select Activity monitor, double click to open it.

3. When it is launched, check for the list of running programs.

4. Click CPU% to sort them, those using the most power will be listed on the top of the list.

5. To check which app is taking up most memory, click the Memory tab next to the CPU.

6. Once you know which apps are taking the most power, select them one by one and click the Quit button.

7. Confirm the action by again clicking the Quit button.

This way, you can free up memory and can kill the unnecessary processes slowing down the Mac.

Note: If there is a process that you are unfamiliar with, we suggest not to click it. As it will cause your system to become unstable.

Method3- Use Cleanup My System To Optimize Mac Performance

By using a tool like Cleanup My System, you can thoroughly clean your Mac and make it run faster than ever before. Also, it will help users free up space by eliminating old/unused applications and managing Startup items to improve overall boot time. Not only this, but you can also clean unwanted mail attachments, get rid of old/large files, remove privacy & identity exposing traces, and more.

To use Cleanup My System, follow the steps below:

1. Download and install Cleanup My System on your Mac. Just click the button provided below to download the latest version!

2. Launch & run the best Mac optimization tool.

3. Under the One-Click Care module, click the Start Scan button to initiate thorough scanning.

4. Wait for the scan to get completed, and you’ll be displayed with unwanted junk files, old & large files, and other redundant data that can be cleaned to improve overall speed & performance.

5. Hi the Clean Now button to reclaim storage space and enhance Mac performance.

Wrap Up:

We hope we were able to answer how to stop programs from running in the background. You can use either of the methods explained in the post and kill background processes. This will help boost Mac performance and restore the lost speed of your Mac. We hope you enjoyed reading the post and found the information helpful. Do share your feedback in the comments section.