Help What is the /proc directory

[beckj]

After installing MyPhoneExplorer to be able to backup my Samsung Galaxy S, I found a directory /proc in the phone memory that contains hundreds of subdirectories with a name consisting of 1 to 4 digits. There are a few more files and directories there as well. All these files and directories are of course also visible via Astro file manager. Most of the files show the same time stamp, which points to a few minutes after the last reboot of the phone and a size of zero bytes. When opening these files with a text editor they contain text.
I was surprised of the amount of these files and I think I didn't see them when I browsed through the file system with Astro file manager a few days ago. I'm new to Android and am afraid of the idea that I might have caught a virus.
What are these files for?
Why do they change their time stamp to a few minutes after reboot time ?
Why do they show a size of zero bytes although they actually contain text ?

Can anybody explain me what's about this directory ?
Thanks

 

[reallyBasic]

Android is based on the Linux kernel so it's probably procfs. If so, all those numbered directories correspond to a running process on your phone.

More info about procfs on Wikipedia: procfs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[juntjoo]

how to safely keep this folder to a minimum? mine too is congesting my remaining system storage space quickly preventing apps from updating, and I've only a handful of apps