With the help of Ctrl-Alt-Del, you can achieve a variety of purposes on a Windows operating system based machine, most notable of which is the ability to open up the Task Manager window, which allows one to force-shut programs that are not responding.

MacBook lovers will be well aware of how the keyboard controls are quite different on their machines, and this can be a problem for someone who is using the device for the first time. Hence, the question about whether the operation of Control Alt Delete (the three finger salute) can be carried out on a MacBook arises.

This function is often abbreviated as Ctrl-Alt-Del, and pressing it forces a soft reboot on any Windows-based machine. There are a number of Windows Security options that arise as a result, but the single biggest advantage of this operation is the Task Manager. This is a very useful operation for any computer, as it forces unresponsive programs to simply shut down. This operation was introduced to the world by David Bradley, one of the designers of the first IBM PC.

There are millions of MacBook users around the world, and this knowledge is something that will be extremely useful for them at some point of time or the other. The equivalent of this command on a Mac is, Command-Option-Escape. When you press this combination, a Force Quit window will open in front of you, which will let you choose the application that you wish to shut down. You can do so, and then click on the Force Quit button. Alternatively, you can even choose the Force Quit option from the Apple menu (or the Command button), and then select the application that you wish to shut down, before clicking on the Force Quit button. Remember, this method is useful only for closing down any unresponsive application.

Another reason why people may want to know about this is to see the CPU and Memory usage, just like the Windows Security monitor in Windows lets you do. To carry out this task on a MacBook, you will need to open the Activity Monitor. This can be found by going to Applications, Utilities, and then going to the Activity Monitor.

A useful fact to know is that, if you press the combination Command-Option-Shift-Escape, then the computer will automatically force quit the first application on the list, whether it is responsive or unresponsive.

Another suitable solution that is worth exploring is to download and install an application known as EscapePod, created by a company called Ambrosia. This is a free software, and can be located easily on the Internet. It helps you dish out a few last ditch commands when another application is unresponsive, thus giving you the option to close those applications easily. In most cases, this will work, and you will not even need to know about this. Please note that this application is only compatible with Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

With the help of this operation, you can save yourself a lot of time and frustration. There are many applications that hang from time to time, and knowing how to shut them is really helpful. This operation has been helping users for many decades now, and this is something that all MacBook users should know too.