The little red button vs "Quit [this Application]"

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So, here is my understanding:
(by the way i have a Macbook Pro with OS 10.5)

If an app has a window open, you can click the red x on the top (or command-w) and close the window. But that doesnt close the application. The app still takes up some ram. If you want to exit the application entirely, then you need to go to the top bar by the apple, click the name of the app, and select "Quit [name of app]" or do command-Q.

I think that is really inconvenient. Is there a way to configure my laptop (or my apps individually) to make it so that if i close the last window of an app, either through red x or command-W, that also quits the application so i dont have to worry about doing that myself?
 
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Some applications do shut down after you close the last window. System Preferences, iPhoto, the calculator, and any app that will only display one window at a time will do it the Windows way.

Give it time, and I think you'll see some advantages to being able to close the windows without quitting the application. You can continue to have some apps run processes in the background while you do other things. If you want to bring the window for that particular app back up, just click the icon in the dock and it's there for you.

If you want a fast and easy way to close all the apps you don't want to have open, I suggest hitting Command-Tab to bring up the mini-dock in the middle of the screen (similar to Alt-Tab on Windows), highlight the program you want to close and hit Command-Q. I find this works really well and I can quit the applications I don't need in a matter of seconds.
 
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Holy crap! I never knew that!. OS X never ceases to amaze me. I never knew that. And command-Q is right next to command-Tab--that's super convenient!
 
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You'll probably eventually see the benefit in not quitting an app just because you've closed its windows (faster open of subsequent documents is one). Until then, if you know that you want to quit an application, just hit command-Q instead of closing its window(s).
 

cwa107


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Get in the habit of using Alt-Tab, and then Command-Q to quickly close apps. It's really not a hassle once you let go of your Windows using habits.
 
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I have one of the buttons on my Trackball mouse configured to do CMD-Q to make quitting apps easier.
 
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It really is jsut a small habit change. One of the concrete cases where this is a good thing is iTunes: I can't remember the countless times on Windows that I've closed the iTunes windows and the music stopped playing as a consequence of that.

Other uses:

- Have Apple Mail download your email every half hour without having a mail window open (I keep quitting Outlook on Windows and thus don't get my mail anymore unless I open it up again).

- Keep Torrent applications running without getting in the way.
 

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