Excess processes

[John R. Sowden]

I just noticed a lot of hd thrashing while was looking at a web page 
with tb running in a separate window (of course!).  I was surprised 
because this computer is running linux, not mswin.  I looked at the task 
manager and saw lots of processes running that were of either uk or of 
no interest to me.

in task manager, what does rss mean.  What does the memory listed in the 
last column mean?  Is this ram in use now?  while watching, a line 
flashed red, an another line flashes yellow once in a while. what do 
those mean?

there is no 'help' button.

also, how ids i know what the process names mea/do, and can i get rid of 
the safely (in init.rd?)
i am running xubuntu 13.04

john