diff --git a/cmake_targets/autotests/tools/remove_old_programs.bash b/cmake_targets/autotests/tools/remove_old_programs.bash
index 3352dc7053a663a4fc9c9e8af758a97c35410aa5..85aa213883601e17dc1117202e0ecb8a821ff74c 100755
--- a/cmake_targets/autotests/tools/remove_old_programs.bash
+++ b/cmake_targets/autotests/tools/remove_old_programs.bash
@@ -5,17 +5,19 @@ echo "removing old programs..."
 echo "args = $1"
 echo "script name = $0"
 filename=$(basename "$0")
-echo "programs to be killed"
-echo "bash PID = $$"
-pid='$$'
-#we need to remove current program and grip as we kill ourselves otherwise :)
-var=`ps -aux |grep -E -i $1 | awk '{print $2}'`
+echo "filename = $filename"
+echo "programs to be killed...$1"
 
-echo $var
+echo "bash PID = $$" 
+pid="$$"
+echo "pid = $pid"
+
+echo "Killing programs now..."
+ps -aux |grep -E -i $1 |awk '{print $2}'| tr '\n' ' ' | sed  "s/$pid/ /" | sudo xargs kill -9 
 
-echo "$var" | sed 's/'$$'/ /' | sudo xargs kill -9
+echo "checking for old programs..."
+var=`ps -aux |grep -E -i '$1' |grep -Ev 'grep' | grep -Ev '$filename'`
 
-var=`ps -aux |grep -E -i $1| grep -E -v '$filename|grep|$$'`
 echo $var
 if [ -n "$var" ]; then echo 'Match found'; else echo 'Match not found' ;fi