Accidentally xkill Your Linux Taskbar?

/* Posted May 14th, 2008 at 11:39am */
/* Filed under Linux */
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linux xkill

I use “xkill” on Linux a lot because it saves you from having to list all the processes running and then individually “kill -9″-ing all the threads you think are associated with the process. It usually does an excellent job of finding the right threads to terminate and gives a visual way to pick out what to kill: just point and click. Unfortunately if you’re not careful you can easily terminate the wrong application as there is no “are you sure?” check in the xkill command. Occasionally, I’ve accidentally killed my beloved taskbar and while it doesn’t really affect the running programs, it’s annoying that I can’t visually switch between virtual desktops or see what other windows I have open and on which desktop. When this happens, you can bring it back by executing the “kicker” command. Simple as that. It will bring back your taskbar, just be aware that is becomes a child process of whatever you launched it from so shutting down from the taskbar requires you to close the parent process, sort of like a chicken and egg problem. Embarrassingly, I’ve had to use “kicker” a few too many times.

2 Responses to “Accidentally xkill Your Linux Taskbar?”

Comment from Anonymous

/* August 9, 2008 at 12:54 am */

Great, this help a lot!

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Comment from hussam

/* July 26, 2009 at 2:07 pm */

how do you use kicker

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