How to force quit & close all windows at the same time?

Do you mean force quit a single application? One way to do that is by holding option when clicking on the relevant dock icon and selecting "Force Quit".

Do you mean force quit ALL applications?

I don't think there is a graceful way to do that.

A brutal way to do it is to force quit the WindowServer process via Activity Monitor (in your Utilities folder).

charlie

Ah. Force quit is probably not the answer.

You want to hold the option key down while quitting, i.e., option-command-q.

chalrie

Not sure if this is available in Lion (since I downgraded), but hold down Command-Option-Esc, then select a program while holding the Shift key. Then use the up/down arrows to force quit multiple programs. All windows should close. I'm on SL but give this a shot.

:3

EDIT: Just realized what you were talking about with Windows...lol (with them opening the next time you launch the app). Hmm. Wish I had a Lion machine to test this out. You could relaunch Finder after quitting and see if that does anything.

Hey CT,

I actually did this: A brutal way to do it is to force quit the WindowServer process via Activity Monitor (in your Utilities folder).

What aree the effects. Will my computer have any problems?

When choosing Restart, Sleep or Shutdown there is a checkbox you can uncheck to prevent the apps from launching.

Also in System Preferences > General there is a hard-to-find checkbox under "Number of recent items" you can turn off.

If you want to turn it off on a per app basis, (TextEdit is by example, replace TextEdit with the name of the app)

Launch Terminal and copy/paste this at the prompt...

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit NSQuitAlwaysKeepsWindows -bool false

Press return.

To turn off Resume globally...

chflags uchg ~/Library/"Saved Application State"

Press return

The reverse of the first one is to replace false with true.

The reverse of the second one is

chflags nouchg ~/Library/"Saved Application State"

Automator and a few easy steps to make a close all personal app.

• Open Applications / Automator
  Select New Document from Status bar and Choose Application.
  SelectQuit All Applications, double-click to create window beside Automator
  Click Add..., select all apps and click Add
• CheckAsk to save changes then File > Save as... and name QUIT
• File > New and repeat above steps to Quit All Applications
  UncheckAsk to save changes then File > Save as... and name KILL
• Place QUIT and KILL in Applications folder and Dock for single-click action.

Automator is easier than Terminal, and allows single-click run.

Close all using Automator instead of Terminal - it's easier!

• Open Applications / Automator
  Select New Document from Status bar and Choose Application.
  
  Select Quit All Applications, double-click to create window beside Automator
  Click Add… and select all apps then click Add
• Check Ask to save changes and File > Save as… QUIT
• File > New and repeat above steps to Quit All Applications and Add
  Uncheck Ask to save changes and File > Save as… KILL
• Place QUIT and KILL in Applications folder and on Dock to run with single click