How to Check Background Processes in Unix

At any given time, a personal computer will have between 10 and 50 processes running in the background. These processes are programs and scripts that communicate between other programs and run elementary computer functions. Unix users can discover what processes are running and check the status of individual processes using the "ps" command.

Instructions

1. Open a command-line terminal through the "Applications" menu on the menu bar.

2. View a list of all running background processes with the following command:

   #ps -e

3. View more detailed information about a particular process with the following command, substituting "program name" with the name of the process you wish to check:

   #ps x | grep "program name"

4. Exit the command-line terminal when finished by typing "exit" and pressing "Enter."

References

• Unix Man Pages: ps Command