How to Kill Unresponsive Apps on Linux

When using Linux, it’s common to encounter unresponsive applications that refuse to close or respond. In this guide, we will discuss the steps required to kill unresponsive apps on Linux.

Using kill

On Linux, kill is a command-line utility used to terminate a running process. It sends a signal to a process or a group of processes, requesting that it be terminated. The most common signal sent with the kill command is SIGTERM (Signal Termination), which allows the process to perform any cleanup actions before terminating.

Step 1: Identify Process

The first step is to identify the process associated with the unresponsive app. You can do this by opening the terminal and running:

ps -A | grep [application-name]

Replace [application-name] with the name of the unresponsive application. This command will list all the processes associated with the application.

Step 2: Get Process ID (PID)

Once you have identified the process associated with the unresponsive app, you need to get the process ID (PID). You can get the PID by running:

sudo lsof -i :[port-number]

Replace [port-number] with the port number associated with the unresponsive app. This command will list all the processes associated with the port number.

Step 3: Kill Process

Now that you have the PID, you can kill the process by running:

sudo kill -9 [PID]

Replace [PID] with the PID you obtained in step 2. This command will force kill the unresponsive app and free up system resources.

Step 4: Check if Process is Killed

Finally, check if the process associated with the unresponsive app has been killed by running:

ps -A | grep [application-name]

Replace [application-name] with the name of the unresponsive application. If the application is no longer listed in the output, the process has been successfully killed.

Conclusion

Killing unresponsive apps on Linux can be a simple process that requires you to identify the process associated with the app, get the process ID, and kill the process using the PID. By following these steps, you can free up system resources and ensure that your Linux system runs smoothly.