Break free of a fullscreen app on Mac OS X

How do you break free of a fullscreen app on Mac OS X?

There are some, mostly games, that when they become unresponsive won't allow you to switch to another app with Command-Tab, and I know no other way to close that app or get away from it. Command-W or Command-Q won't work either.

Is there a shortcut to launch Activity Monitor, or Terminal, to kill the application?

Solution 1:

1. First, try hitting esc. That'll make well behaved programs such as DVD Player or VLC exit Full Screen Mode.

2. No luck there, try command+tab and see if you can cycle to another open program or the Finder. ( OP tried this, but just adding for completion's sake )

3. Then try option+command+esc next, to try and Force Quit the application.

4. If none of that works...you could try to ssh into the machine and kill the offending process via Terminal..

5. That'd be all I try before rebooting the Mac...

Solution 2:

Shift+Option+Command+Escape, when held down for three seconds, should force-kill the active application in Mac OS X, similar to ending an unresponsive task in windows.