How to list running processes and kill them via the command line

Thanks to James for letting me know that there's an easy way to list and kill processes from the Windows Vista command line.

Back in the days (pre-Microsoft) when I was an UNIX network administrator I often used the command "ps -ef" to list the running processes.Task Manager on Windows gets the job done but somehow doesn't feel quite right to me. Eurka - Windows Vista provides the commands "tasklist" and "taskkill". Such commands will be handy for use in scripts of course too.

The following extract is from a Windows shell session to show you the interface:

E:\Users\stephlam>tasklist

Image Name PID Session Name Session# Mem Usage
========================= ======== ================ =========== ============
System Idle Process 0 0 16 K
System 4 0 900 K
smss.exe 408 0 524 K
csrss.exe 468 0 4,868 K
wininit.exe 508 0 2,808 K
csrss.exe 548 Console 1 12,052 K
services.exe 564 0 4,296 K
lsass.exe 576 0 2,568 K
lsm.exe 584 0 3,104 K
winlogon.exe 644 Console 1 3,832 K
svchost.exe 780 0 4,732 K
svchost.exe 848 0 5,720 K
svchost.exe 876 0 7,872 K
LogonUI.exe 916 Console 1 9,692 K
svchost.exe 976 0 8,644 K
svchost.exe 1000 0 23,836 K
SLsvc.exe 1040 0 3,944 K
svchost.exe 1064 0 8,708 K
svchost.exe 1256 0 2,280 K
svchost.exe 1308 0 48,900 K
svchost.exe 1336 0 11,176 K
wisptis.exe 1376 Console 1 4,592 K
spoolsv.exe 1528 0 7,416 K
audiodg.exe 1596 0 7,144 K
svchost.exe 1616 0 7,092 K
inetinfo.exe 2024 0 4,572 K
InoRpc.exe 320 0 3,572 K
InoRT.exe 540 0 8,396 K
InoTask.exe 832 0 6,348 K
svchost.exe 1740 0 3,960 K
svchost.exe 1768 0 2,240 K
SRUserService.exe 956 0 4,488 K
svchost.exe 1964 0 4,184 K
vmh.exe 1808 0 2,744 K
svchost.exe 2060 0 3,680 K
svchost.exe 2072 0 2,056 K
SearchIndexer.exe 2096 0 38,236 K
WUDFHost.exe 2200 0 3,512 K
CcmExec.exe 2276 0 13,056 K
vssrvc.exe 2352 0 5,724 K
WmiPrvSE.exe 2692 0 5,028 K
wisptis.exe 3428 Console 1 5,020 K
TabTip.exe 3452 Console 1 12,244 K
dwm.exe 3572 Console 1 89,924 K
explorer.exe 3580 Console 1 39,060 K
taskeng.exe 2780 0 4,748 K
taskeng.exe 500 Console 1 8,688 K
WmiPrvSE.exe 2524 0 5,288 K
MSASCui.exe 3188 Console 1 6,156 K
Realmon.exe 3292 Console 1 5,752 K
00THotkey.exe 3412 Console 1 5,600 K
TRot.exe 1436 Console 1 3,744 K
wmdWatch.exe 1168 Console 1 3,732 K
sidebar.exe 2532 Console 1 28,832 K
msnmsgr.exe 2944 Console 1 4,464 K
svchost.exe 1912 0 5,128 K
communicator.exe 3948 Console 1 55,100 K
Msmsgs.exe 1948 Console 1 2,224 K
ehtray.exe 3684 Console 1 1,724 K
ONENOTEM.EXE 3272 Console 1 444 K
ehmsas.exe 1240 Console 1 3,072 K
ehsched.exe 4000 0 3,908 K
InputPersonalization.exe 3060 Console 1 8,512 K
unsecapp.exe 2932 Console 1 4,068 K
ehrecvr.exe 4408 0 4,544 K
ieuser.exe 1480 Console 1 17,312 K
iexplore.exe 3248 Console 1 42,036 K
WINWORD.EXE 5744 Console 1 39,392 K
TrustedInstaller.exe 5344 0 3,364 K
cmd.exe 6136 Console 1 2,208 K
SearchFilterHost.exe 5224 0 7,016 K
SearchProtocolHost.exe 5844 Console 1 11,424 K
iexplore.exe 6016 Console 1 60,448 K
cmd.exe 5108 Console 1 2,132 K
notepad.exe 3080 Console 1 6,792 K
WmiPrvSE.exe 3120 0 6,108 K
tasklist.exe 5516 Console 1 4,148 K

E:\Users\stephlam>taskkill /pid 3080
SUCCESS: Sent termination signal to the process with PID 3080.