# Chapter 3. Using the KDE Task Manager

After you have started the Task Manager you will see a dialog box with three pages. You can change to other pages by clicking on the handle of the pages. The start-up page can be configured in the options dialog available from the menu.

# 3.1. The Process List Page

The Process List Page gives you a list of processes on your system. The list can be sorted by each column. Just press the left mouse button over the head of the column.

The list shows the following information about each process. Please note that not all properties are available on every operating system.

- PID The process ID. A unique number for each process.

- Name The name of the executable that started the process.

- User ID The login name of the user that started the process.

- CPU The processor load of the process in percent.

- Time The total computation time of the process so far.

- Nice The scheduling priority.

- Status The process status.

- Memory The total amount of memory (in kBytes) the process uses. This includes shared memory.

- Resident The amount of physical memory (in kBytes) the process uses.

- Shared The amount of memory (in kBytes) the process shares with other processes.

Underneath the table you find four buttons which will be described now from left to right.

## 3.1.1. The Refresh Rate

The refresh rate determines how often the process list will be updated. This is particularly important for the calculation of the processor load of each process. The load is averaged over the whole time between updates. A slow, a medium and a fast update rate is available. For most purposes the medium rate is a good compromise.

## 3.1.2. The Process Filter

The Process Filter can be used to reduce the number of processes displayed in the table. You can filter out processes you are not interested in. Currently you can display all processes, system processes only, user processes only or your processes only.

## 3.1.3. The Refresh Button

This button can be used to force an immediate update of the process list.

## 3.1.4. The Kill Button

If you want to terminate a process you can send a kill signal to the selected process by pressing this button.