1. A method of virtualizing a process identifier comprising the steps of: creating a child process from a parent process by making a system call from the parent process; if the parent process executes before the child process begins to execute, at a kernel level and without interruption mapping a free virtual process identifier to a kernel process identifier for the child process, wherein the parent process performs the mapping of the free virtual process identifier to the kernel process identifier if the parent process executes before the child process begins to execute; and if the child process executes before the parent process begins to execute, at the kernel level and without interruption: determining the kernel process identifier for the child process; and mapping the free virtual process identifier to the kernel process identifier, wherein the child process performs the mapping of the free virtual process identifier to the kernel process identifier if the child process executes before the parent process begins to execute.