Most Mac users know that you can force-quit an application by hitting Command + Option + Esc and selecting the app from the list. You did know about that, right? I mean, you weren’t actually launching Activity Monitor and selecting from the list and force-quitting that way, were you? You can force-quit your apps fast by Option + Click and hold for about 1 second on the application icon in the Dock and selecting Force Quit from the pop-up menu.
