TerminateProcess() is pretty reliable, but it doesn't form part of the C signals stack on Windows like kill -9. So for instance, if you're doing process control on Python, you need to use a special Windows-only API to access TerminateProcess().
Kill -9 is a command on Unix and Linux to send signal 9 (SIGKILL) to a process. That's the version of kill that is the most reliable and has immediate effect.
Taskkill is a Windows command line program. I believe that taskkill /f uses the TerminateProcess() API. This is more forceful than the End Task button on the Task Manager. There is a different End Process button on the Task Manager that does use TerminateProcess().
Is the 9 pertaining to permissions like chmod uses them? I'll have to look it up sometime. Been awhile since I've ever actually needed to force quit something in a Linux os
Thanks for that, I'll have a ganter. Need to spin up a new VM soon and figure out a new distro to play with. Been slacking on exploring new things. Mostly only played with Yellow dog (small enough to dual boot on a PS3 with 512mb of ram back in the day), Ubuntu, Debian for other things. Likely will look for something that will work well for a media server.