A process is an instance of a program in execution. For example, a Web Browser is a process, and a shell (or command prompt) is a process. The operating system is responsible for managing all the processes that are running on a computer and allocates each process a certain amount of time to use the processor. In addition, the operating system also allocates various other resources that processes will need, such as computer memory or disks. To keep track of the state of all the processes, the operating system maintains a table known as the process table. Inside this table, every process is listed along with the resources the process is using and the current state of the process.
