Zombie Process

Mitchel_B3ll · #1 (**permalink**) 08-11-10, 16:54

Should I be worried about killing zombie processes, or just leave them as is in the process table since it is already a dead process?

11anais · #2 (**permalink**) 08-12-10, 17:27

I don't think you should be worried about them unless the list is so long it is masking your ability to visually scan the process list.

carl owen · #3 (**permalink**) 08-12-10, 20:57

I don't think Zombie process would cause any problems to you if you don't kill them, however, it would be a better option to get it killed from time to time.

Amelia · #4 (**permalink**) 08-13-10, 01:20

Zombie process are inactive processes. But then when you have too many zombie processes then it is recommended to kill parent process or just restart the respective service.

Bladerunner · #5 (**permalink**) 08-23-10, 23:16

I think the terminology used for this general topic is interesting. I had heard of zombie processes but reading more I see other phrases such as 'parent' and 'orphan' which all seems rather emotive. Zombies don't have the best image in the regular world, so I wonder why it was chosen to describe the functions and processes involved.

RicherdsFi · #6 (**permalink**) 08-24-10, 21:15

I think that zombie processes were named that because 1) programmers are a special breed of scifi tech geeks (who hasn't dreamt of killing zombies and 2) they aren't alive, they aren't active, they just hang about pretending as if they are alive but frustrate you to now end if you try to kill them.

Mitchel_B3ll · #7 (**permalink**) 09-07-10, 23:11

This is all very informative. Does anyone have a good link that will best explain how to go about killing zombie processes? I don't want to screw up my registries.