How to safely restart a frozen Mac
The screen won't move, clicks do nothing, and the cursor doesn't respond at all. Before reaching straight for the power button, it's worth working through a sequence of increasingly forceful steps — it lowers the risk of losing unsaved work.
What to do, in this order
Check whether it's one app or the whole system
Try Cmd+Tab, or click an icon in the Dock. If the rest of the Mac responds, it's likely just one frozen app, and you don't need to restart the whole computer.
Force quit the frozen app
Press Cmd+Option+Esc to open the Force Quit window, select the app that isn't responding, and click "Force Quit". This is the first and gentlest step.
If the whole system isn't responding, restart from the Apple menu
Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner and choose "Restart". This is still a safer option than a forced shutdown, because it gives the system a chance to close open processes properly.
Only as a last resort, hold the power button
If nothing else works, hold the physical power button for a few seconds until the Mac shuts off, then turn it back on. This is a last resort — any unsaved changes in open documents are usually lost at this point.
Why the order matters
A forced shutdown via the power button cuts everything off at once, with no chance to save whatever happened to be open. The gentler the step that works, the lower the risk of losing your work — which is why it's worth going through them in order instead of reaching straight for the most drastic option.
When it's a job for IT
- The Mac freezes regularly, not just once in a while.
- After a forced restart, the computer starts up strangely or doesn't start at all.
- You lost important, unsaved company data to a freeze and need help recovering it.
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