The kill command expects you to specific processes for termination by Process ID Number (PID). This is the left most column of the top command output. In your posted screenshot, that would be 1211. Beware that some processes don't die easily and if the kill command doesn't work (the process still shows as running in your "top" display), then try using the "-9" argument, which tells the system to kill with extreme prejudice. Like so: kill -9 <PID number> Alternately, you can use the pkill (process kill) command to kill processes by their name, such as: pkill hildon-input-method Note that none of this tells us WHY your hildon-input-method has run amok...