Closing all running programs

This newbie has a simple question that my "Mac Help" feature, 2 big books, and support "search" features hasn't answered. How do you turn off all running programs? I want to install Verizon DSL, and their installation book says to first close all running programs, but I don't have a clue as to how to do that. It looks to me like Finder and maybe even some other things are always running. Can someone please tell me step-by-step what to do? Thank you.
iBookG4 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Hi 4b. There isn't a 'Quit All' command as such, but a really quick way of quitting all open apps is to firstly press and hold down the command (apple) key then click the tab key once (keep the command key depressed). You'll get a row of buttons across the screen that show the open apps. You can use the left and right keys as required to highlight any of these buttons. Clicking on the Q-key will quit the selected app.
What I do is, as long as Finder button is to the left, hold the Q-key down as all apps quit one at a time.
Finder will be left running, and as Glenn says, don't worry about Dashboard.

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Spacebar shortcut for hand tool not working in Photoshop CC - have tried closing all other programs

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There may be a software conflict. I went through this today. When I did a search in Adobe foruns actually found tha answer on the Illustrator forum: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1027227?
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Then I opened 1Password again, and logged in. This time the spacebar works.
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Command + Tab is what you are after i think

I have downloaded adobe camera raw 8.7 . Closed all adobe programs . Reopen PS cc6 , it is still using camera raw 8.2 . How can I get the updated plug in to become active ?

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Please clarify your version of Photoshop.
There is no CC6.
There is
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Photoshop CC
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Also, what is your operating system?

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Quit all running programs...

Is there a one-click way to quit all currently running applications? Like if I want to run Disk utility and repair permissions without re-starting, or if I just want to close all open programs for the fun of it. Thanks.

Peter,
You might look into a freeware app called QaLL. It offers a one-click option to quit all running applications, along with a one-click option to relaunch those same apps that were open prior to QaLL's quitting them. Another one to check out would be Quit Anything.
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Hello! I recently got a windows 8.1 computer and have been using it for only a week, but I've been having issues with what I can only assume is explorer.exe.
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Please provide us with your Event Viewer administrative logs by following these steps:
Click Start Menu
Type eventvwr into Search programs and files (do not hit enter)
Right click eventvwr.exe and click Run as administrator
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Right click Administrative Events
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Go to where you saved Errors.evtx
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This is a bit too close to a message I'm familiar with that can indicate a hijack on the PC. So just in case I think we'd better try a malware scan.
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Solved!
Go to Solution.

A Kumar:
Have you tried running the example program excelreportdemo.prj that ships with CVI? It ends the excel process by discarding multiple handles, and it works even if you're editing a cell or have an Excel dialog open, etc. Try running this without modification and verify that the excel process is closed when you quit the CVI app.
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Firefox exe continues to run after closing all windows, and consumes massive amounts of cpu

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*[[firefox will not start]]
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Running Programs with Screen Closed

I cant figure out how to run programs with my screen closed. For instance, I'm signed on AIM and I close the screen and when I open it back up, I'm no longer signed on AIM. It's very frustrating. Any type of assistance would be greatly appreciated. Also, is there any phone number available that will connect me directly with customer service?

Unfortunately, unlike PC counterparts, your laptop has 1 function with the laptop on, and screen closed - Sleep.
Sleep can be reversed with closing the lid as described above, having an EXTERNAL mouse and or keyboard and activating the computer that way.
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Sorry there aren't any other solutions for you.

My iTunes suddenly stopped working and doesn't recognize any of my devices and gives me a AMD error. I've tried several times to uninstall all Apple programs and reinstall to no avail. I'm running windows 7 on a Dell laptop. It worked fine for years .

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GET TO WORK APPLE !!!!

Can I copy all my programs on an external drive to run?

I have a 80GB internal drive & I want to run bootcamp to install Windows XP Service Pack 2.
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Copying and pasting applications in a fair number of cases may fail because by copying you're typically resetting the permissions of files to system defaults (i.e. non-root) which may cause the app to malfunciton. Also, during updates some apps will also expect to see the application in a specific location. It's not true for all apps, but it probably just enough to make life really irritating.
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Create a symbolic link from the external HD to /Applications after moving the contents of /Applications using ditto.
Create a symbolic link from the external HD to /Applications after moving the contents of /Applications using rsync 3 (not the rsync that comes with OS X)
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Closing all running programs

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