A process is a program or application being executed by the system. When an application is launched, the system assigns a unique process ID (PID), and its instructions and data are loaded into memory.

The Processes tab displays information on processes, and allows you to Stop, Continue, End, Kill, or change the priority of a process. If you choose to display All Processes, the process list will include system processes, which run in the background providing various services that keep a computer running.