Squid -k problem : can not send stop signal

The squid.pid file is missing or unreadable makes squid -k command don’t work (says it can not send stop signal). We kill Squid manually by finding the process ID with ps.

ps ax | grep squid

If there are more than one Squid process, be sure to kill the one that shows up as (squid).
example
500 ?? Is 0:00.01 squid -sD
505 ?? S 0:00.27 (squid) -sD (squid)

then kill it
kill -TERM 505

How to fix this? I learn that with a help from Squid Faq
Run squid again
squid

then do ps again
ps ax | grep squid

find squid process that shows up as (squid)
example : if the process id 82675 (remember this is example)
Create the PID file and put the process id number there
echo 82675 > /usr/local/squid/logs/squid.pid
note : /usr/local/squid/logs/squid.pid (location of squid.pid, this is probably different in your computer)

Then find the Squid process id. Send the process a HUP signal, which is the same as squid -k reconfigure
kill -HUP 82675
The reconfigure process creates a new PID file automatically.