Quitting vs. Closing

"Short Stuff" presentation by Ali Steinbergs
on May 24, 2005

Sometimes a computer user will close a window and not realize that they have left the application (i.e program) running. If this happens with several applications, you may experience slowdowns, not realizing that the open applications are using up your RAM memory. Here are a few pointers to help avoid this problem:


 Closing Quitting
What it does: closes an open window shuts down an application
How to do it: click at top, left-hand corner of window (red "jelly" button in OS X) click application name menu, then click on Quit
Keyboard shortcut: ⌘ W ⌘ Q

When are quitting and closing the same thing?

When an application can only have one open window (example applications: iPhoto, Calculator)

When are they different?

When more than one open window is possible (example applications: Appleworks, Safari, Mail, Internet Explorer, TextEdit, iTunes, iCal, etc.)

How can you tell when an application is open and running (even though all its windows are closed)?

OS X look at Dock; open applications will appear in Dock with a small black triangle beneath them
OS 9 and older click on Finder menu (at top right-hand corner; open applications will appear in a list)