i have always used
# ps awx
for listing system process information. but recently i wanted to list more specific memory and processor details in snapshot mode of the entire system. the command # top is great for monitoring a live system, but if you want to be able to store snapshots of processes for logging, # ps is the command to start from. i was led to the -u switch and have been using the following version:
# ps aux
USER PID %CPU %MEM VSZ RSS TTY STAT START TIME COMMAND