TUAW Tip: Kill an accidentally-opened app

Another couple of additions to this:

Rather than holding down the button, if you Ctrl-Click dock icon, the menu comes up immediately.

Also, if you need the Force Quit option, Ctrl-Option-Clicking does the trick nicely.

As a users of LiteSwitchX (a command+tab switcher that predates the one built into OS and still does a better job IMHO) I like using its Force Quit feature. Just command+tab to the app and hit the f key twice.

I think force quitting is supposed to be reasonably safe on OS X.

Another good way to avoid this would be to turn off Dock magnification. It is the probably the magnifiying glass effect that is responsible for most false clicks.

Is it not dangerous to Force Quit a starting application? I would figure it can leave some of the application's files in inconsistent state!

Just my 2 cents,
gerald@maps.servebbs.com

No tip is useless if it helps just one person.

As lame of a tip as this might be, I admit that i do this myself at least a few times a day, so it's not a totally useless tip.

Slow news day, eh?

Did this really need posting?

I've had this happen to me a lot, and it's definitely not fun, but it's taught me to use Cmd-Tab more and more.

From a UI perspective, I don't believe the dock is supposed to be used as an application switcher, more just as a launcher and a way to quickly see what apps are running (small triangles beneath the apps).

just my $0.02.

Mac Diva: in System Preferences go to Mouse and Keyboard and click on Trackpad. Do you have "ignore accidental trackpad input" checked? If not check it and see if things get better. If it is checked and you are having problems you can turn off the "clicking" trackpad gesture and this would mean a trackpad tap wouldn't be a click and you would have to give an actual click on the button.

I have that problem on MY PowerBook G4 1.5 GHz. The trackpad seems to be oversensitive no matter what the settings. If I even hover near an app icon in the Dock, the program is apt to open. I've tried bringing up the contextual menu and choosing Force Quit, but, usually, the app just continues to open. The real 'fix' would be to make apps harder to open from the Dock, requiring a definite click. And, maybe, a more calibratable trackpad.

('MY' because I don't know whether this is a common problem.)