Methods, functional components and structures are disclosed for carrying out management of client/server processes operating within separate process spaces within a computer system. The disclosed methods, functional components facilitate and carry out management of client and server processes within a computer system such that a greater degree of control can be exhibited over their execution. An active server component process maintains a list structure identifying each client process that is currently using one of the server component process's interfaces. When a new client references a server, the list structure is augmented to include the system identification (e.g., handle) assigned by the operating system to the client process. A thread within the server process blocks while awaiting a triggering event (e.g., a client process in the list terminates). When the client process terminates, the block on the thread releases and the thread processes the change in client references. If the list of clients within the structure reaches zero, then the server process can immediately terminate.