I just got my MBP yesterday (my first Mac ever) and am really enjoying it but one thing kind of stood out for me and that is the running of background programs. Anytime I open up an app such as iTunes or Pages and then close it, it will still be running in the background as I can see from doing the four-finger swipe. I understand this makes opening up the app much quicker if I want to use it again later, but I'm afraid it's really hogging up the system especially when I have a lot of apps running in the background that I closed earlier (say...iTunes, Pages, Safari, Numbers, etc). So is it better to manually right click and quit these background programs that I'm not using or can they just sit in the background without hogging up my system? Thankss
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Should I be quitting background programs?
- Thread starter ethos17
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It doesn't consume many system resources. If you wamt to stop it running all together hit command-q.
Just leave them running. They use like 50MB of RAM anyway when on the background. If you're running out of RAM, start quitting them but generally, just leave them as they are
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.
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
No but, with the application selected (check your top bar to see the name next to the
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 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.
I use Better Touch Tool and set up 3 finger click quits a program. Works like a charm
+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.