How to see all open programs in Mavericks?

I was using Snow Leopard. In that, if I just swiped three (or four??) fingers, a line of my open programs would show, and I could then choose one to go to.

Now I have a few desktops with different programs open in each. To test, I opened a bunch in each desktop. I can not find a way to see all the open programs as I did in Snow Leopard. I can go to "force quit" to see them, but that is not productive or efficient.

Am I missing something? Surely there is some way to do in Mavericks what I did in Snow Leopard.

Thanks in advance.

Yes, you're missing something. You can see open programs in a number of different ways, all of which are accessed exactly the same way in Mavericks as they did in Snow Leopard:

1. Look at your dock. Open programs have a "blue light" under them (which, I will freely admit, has gotten smaller and harder to see in Mavericks than it was in Snow).

2. Command-Tab will show you a GIANT ICON and label of each program that is open. Keeping the command key held down, you press tab again to move between them, and can even press "Q" while the command is still held down to quit them (letting go of command while a program is selected brings that program to the forefront).

3. You can invoke Mission Control by way of clicking the icon that should be on your dock for it (you can add it if its not there), or invoke it by pressing F3, and yes, you can also bring it up by simply swiping upwards with four fingers (and dismiss by swiping downward with four fingers).

The main difference between Mission Control in Mavericks and Mission Control in Snow Leopard is that with the later version it also incorporates what was called "Expose" as well as "Spaces." So now, when you invoke Mission Control, you'll see all active applications and their windows in the "space" that you're currently using, and a row of spaces above it and any programs they have open (and you can assign programs to spaces just like before, etc).

Mission Control it Snow Leopard? I've just upgraded to 10.6.8 and it still has the same Spaces and Expose as 10.5 but no Mission Control. Didn't that come out in Lion?

The main difference between Mission Control in Mavericks and Mission Control in Snow Leopard is that with the later version it also incorporates what was called "Expose" as well as "Spaces."

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Read above. Member chas_m made the distinction between the two. And besides, we already discussed this previously in another thread.

Geez, forum lost my fairly long reply.

Oh, well, thank you, Chas, for the thorough reply. I will explore your suggestions.

chscag said:

Read above. Member chas_m made the distinction between the two. And besides, we already discussed this previously in another thread.

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This link says Mission Control came out with Lion, as my recollection stated above.

What Is Apple's Mission Control?

You're correct. There was nothing labelled "Mission Control" in Snow Leopard, that was the name Lion gave to the combined Expose and Spaces. Sorry for the confusion, mea culpa.