This tells you the activity display of Mac OS X.

You can use the Activity Monitor on Mac OS X to monitor running processes and programs. For example, you can see the CPU or memory consumption of your Mac computer. In our practical tip, you can find out which additional information is presented.

Mac OS X: Manage Processes & Storage with Activity Monitor

You can end programs at any time with the activity display. This relieves your CPU and also frees up memory. In addition, you analyze processes and then receive a detailed report.

• Start the activity display: Enter the keyword "activity display" in the spotlight search at the top right and then select the first hit. Alternatively, you can find the tool in the "Utilities" system folder.
• In a window you can now see all running processes (see picture). The tab in the middle presents different views such as CPU, memory or energy. The table shows the CPU load in percent or the size of the active memory for the respective process.
• If you now want to end a process, simply click on the respective program and select the X symbol in the top left (see picture).
• Your active processes can also be analyzed with the activity display. The program then writes a report that you can also save on your Mac.

Activity indicator: hard drive, energy and network data

The activity indicator also shows information about energy consumption and hard disk usage. In the "Network" tab you will find information on sent and received bytes.

• Information on read and written data is shown in the lower field of the window. There is also an indicator for read and write access (see picture).
• In the network area you will find all running processes with numbers for sent and received packets. The user for the respective processes is also displayed.

If you want to read more about "Mac Task Manager", you should take a look at this practical tip.