Stopping Processes

ps is the shortage for Process Status. The command displays the currently running processes on the system. Quite like the 'Task-Manager' which pops up under Windows NT/2000/XP when you press CTRL+ALT+DEL 'cept here you type 'ps' in a console window and it lists all the processes with their PID (process ID). Why do you need the process id? You can stop the process with the help of the 'kill' command. The kill command needs a process number otherwise it won't know to which process it should send the 'kill' signal.

Typing 'ps' will list only some processes. To list all processes:
ps -A

Sample Output:

14098 ? 00:00:00 httpd
14586 ? 00:00:00 pickup
14638 ? 00:01:46 firefox-bin
14648 ? 00:00:00 gconfd-2
14828 ? 00:00:00 yast2
14845 ? 00:00:09 y2base
15121 ? 00:00:00 kdeinit


Kill a process: kill (PID #)
eg. To kill the firefox browser: kill 14638

Kill em all...
We're all gonna die!!!