the amount of processes will change due to the number of programs loaded on your computer, when you say they are running, due they have a CPU process number after them other than 0 (with the exception of system idle process states 99 when computer is at rest.) The task manager list all process availble.

 

As you said above, those other processed say 00 in the CPU column. It's those processes that are "available" that I wanted to minimize (and have).
99PSDCREW

 

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, since linux is open source would it not have the same problems that windows has? Does it not have ***** files "processes". Maybe there is fewer user's, there by not really sparking the hack's to go to work on? oh well I was just wondering

 

Being open source is actually what has helped make Linux more robust and secure. There are gurus/geeks/enthusiasts all over the world finding and fixing any bugs it may have. There is virtually no chance someone could write a malicious piece of code and call it a "bug fix" because these same people would catch it before it ever became a problem.

Yes, it does have processes running, but they run at different privelege levels, whereas WinD'ohs processes all run at elevated privelege levels. There are also many tools to contain processes to their own environment, such as a chroot "jail" that greatly reduce the risk of someone gaining control of your system. Sure, there's a remote chance someone might be able to wipe that particular directory, but that's why we always do backups, right?

Also, I've never had to reboot a Linux box to make it work. I can kill and restart services individually, either from a command prompt, or a GUI application. The firewall applications for *nix systems are second to none also; I can have granular control over them, and if I don't want you in my machine, you aren't getting in.

The best thing about *nix systems, IMHO, is that there is NO REGISTRY to foul things up beyond belief.