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# Get a list of all processes not run by you
- URL: https://mfitzp.ghost.io/get-a-list-of-all-processes-not-run-by-you/
- Published: 2011-11-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-06-25T19:03:03.000Z
- Author: Martin Fitzpatrick
- Tags: Tutorials, #Import 2024-03-14 08:20, #Import 2026-08-24 14:26

Find the currently running processes on your system that were not started by yourself. A great way to find out what is hogging your system on multiple-user setups or remote logins.

Open up a terminal session and enter:

```bash
ps aux | grep -v `whoami`
```

`ps aux` returns (a) all processes with (u) user shown, (x) listing only those without controlling ttys. We then pass this through `grep` checking for the existance of your username retrieved with `whoami`

You can tweak this to show (for example) the only the top 10 processes by CPU utilization as follows:

```bash
ps aux  --sort=-%cpu | grep -m 11 -v `whoami`

```

`grep -m 11` stops searching after 11 matches (10th line) while `ps --sort=-%cpu` sorts on the CPU utilization column (-) descending.