In computing, a process refers to the instance of a computer program that is being executed by one or many threads). A process is a running program with which a particular set of data is associated so that the process can be kept track of. A computer program is a passive collection of instructions typically stored in a file on disk, while a process is the execution of those instructions after being loaded from the disk into memory). A process may be made up of multiple threads of execution that execute instructions concurrently).

Processes are often called "tasks" in embedded operating systems). A process can initiate a subprocess, which is called a child process, and the initiating process is sometimes referred to as its parent. A child process is a replica of the parent process and shares some of its resources, but cannot exist if the parent is terminated. Processes can exchange information or synchronize their operation through several methods of interprocess communication (IPC) .

In general, a computer system process consists of (or is said to own) the following resources):

• An image of the executable machine code associated with a program.
• Memory (typically some region of virtual memory); which includes the executable code, process-specific data (input and output), a call stack (to keep track of active subroutines and/or other events), and a heap to hold intermediate computation data generated during run time.

A typical computer has multiple processes running all the time to help manage the operating system, its hardware, and the software running on the computer. Windows Processes are Windows Services and background programs you normally dont see running on the computer.