Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor

The Activity Monitor is a system utility found in macOS, the operating system for Macintosh computers. It provides users with a graphical interface to view and manage the processes running on their computer. This tool is essential for monitoring system performance, diagnosing issues, and managing system resources effectively.

Overview

Activity Monitor is analogous to the Task Manager in Windows and the System Monitor in Linux. It provides detailed information about the processes running on a Mac, including CPU usage, memory usage, energy impact, disk activity, and network activity.

Features

Activity Monitor is divided into several tabs, each providing specific information about system resources:

CPU

The CPU tab displays the percentage of CPU capacity being used by each process. It helps users identify processes that are consuming excessive CPU resources, which can slow down the system.

Memory

The Memory tab shows how much RAM is being used by each process. It also provides information about memory pressure, which indicates how efficiently the system is managing memory.

Energy

The Energy tab provides information about the energy impact of each process. This is particularly useful for laptop users who need to manage battery life.

Disk

The Disk tab shows the amount of data being read from and written to the disk by each process. This can help identify processes that are causing high disk activity.

Network

The Network tab displays the amount of data being sent and received over the network by each process. This is useful for identifying processes that are using a lot of network bandwidth.

Usage

Activity Monitor can be used to:

• Identify resource-intensive processes: Users can sort processes by CPU, memory, energy, disk, or network usage to find those that are consuming excessive resources.
• Force quit unresponsive applications: If an application becomes unresponsive, users can select it in Activity Monitor and force it to quit.
• Monitor system performance: By keeping an eye on system resource usage, users can ensure their Mac is running efficiently.

Accessing Activity Monitor

To open Activity Monitor, users can:

1. Go to the Applications folder. 2. Open the Utilities folder. 3. Double-click on Activity Monitor.

Alternatively, users can use Spotlight by pressing `Command + Space` and typing "Activity Monitor".

Also see

• Task Manager
• System Monitor
• macOS
• Process management (computing)