Should I be quitting background programs?

It doesn't consume many system resources. If you wamt to stop it running all together hit command-q.

 

Agreed with above, they won't use much in the way of resources (although iTunes can suck up a decent amount of RAM if you have had it on shuffle for a while). Personally, when I am done with an app, I just hit Command+Q, and don't worry about it.

 

Same. I don't know why I do it, I guess it just helps me be less distracted with what to click in the dock.

 

the only thinks you should be quitting when you wont be using them is iTunes and Safari.

iTunes seems to have a lot of memory leaks, taking up to 400mb of ram while sitting idle, not even playing music.

 

umm... how are you quitting the application? Are you just clicking on the red dot in the window? That only closes the window in some apps, not the entire app.

 

No but, with the application selected (check your top bar to see the name next to the ) hit the following two keyboard selections: Command+Q

 

Or click on the program name next to the and click 'quit', or right-click in the dock and select 'stop'.

 

I usually CMD-Tab to select the app and then CMD-q to exit if I have a lot of apps open and want to fully exit some of them.

How much memory you have and if the apps are doing anything in the background will determine if you want to exit them. If you are running low on memory, then exit them. If you have plenty of memory and still exit the app, they will probably start up quickly anyway as they will still have a large portion of the app in memory (shows up as inactive memory).

Menu meters will give you a graphic representation of your memory usage on the menu bar if you want to watch without starting Activity Monitor.

 

I use Better Touch Tool and set up 3 finger click quits a program. Works like a charm

 

Just get used to command-Q

 

Preview tends to use around 1gig of ram for me when it's in the bg and no pics are up.

 

I found one of the strong points of OSX is the ability to have lots of programs open in the background and let the OS manage everything. I go days with my all of my primary apps and 1 or 2 virtual machines loaded up and never have any issues.

 

+eleventybillion

except my 3 finger click is the middle mouse button, for opening new tabs,

i have it set so that the lower right corner tap quits the app all together.