Finder on Mac Always On I've always wondered why the Finder application on Mac computers are always on and why there's no way to quit out of them. Does anyone have an idea or supposition about why it is? Are there any consequences if the Finder is not always on?
Having Finder closed shouldn't cause any problems.

You can add a Quit Finder ⌘Q command to the Finder menu...

Copy and paste the following command into Terminal, then press enter.

defaults write com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem 1; killall -HUP Finder


Note: When Finder is closed and an external disk is plugged in it will still be available to applications through the File > Open, File > Save, etc. commands.







To remove the Quit Finder ⌘Q command from the Finder menu...

Copy and paste the following command into Terminal, then press enter.

defaults delete com.apple.Finder QuitMenuItem; killall -HUP Finder








One of the nice benefits of having Finder closed, is it hides the clutter of files and folders I have on my Desktop. Sometimes I just don't want to be distracted by what's on my Desktop, so I quit Finder.