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Operations · easy

3. Processes, Signals, and Activity Monitor

Inspecting and controlling running work on macOS.

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macOS exposes Unix process tools such as `ps`, `top`, `pgrep`, and `kill`. A process can receive signals: SIGTERM requests a graceful shutdown, while SIGKILL stops it immediately and cannot be handled for cleanup.

Activity Monitor provides a graphical view of CPU, memory, energy, disk, and network usage. Start with observation and graceful termination before using forceful commands.

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Check your understanding

  1. 1. Which signal should usually be tried first for a graceful process shutdown?

  2. 2. What does `ps` help you inspect?

  3. 3. Why is SIGKILL a last resort?

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