Most likely you only have one CPU, yet multiple programs run simultaneously with little to no problems. But what happens when you want to run a program that seems to be stuttering out or that is time critical?
Every program that is run on your computer is assigned a priority to overcome this. Some programs may automatically change their priority. For example many CD/DVD burning programs run in high priority to prevent coasters. Programs are normally started at a ‘normal’ priority and you can adjust their priority via the task manager (cntrl-shift-del).
But what if you want to start a program with a certain priority? Enter Windows cmd.exe.
%windir%\\System32\\cmd.exe /c START /high program.exe
Simply replace program.exe with your program’s name/path and your in high priority heaven. Here are the other priorities copied and pasted from the help (cmd.exe /?).
- LOW
- Start application in the IDLE priority class
- NORMAL
- Start application in the NORMAL priority class
- HIGH
- Start application in the HIGH priority class
- REALTIME
- Start application in the REALTIME priority class
- ABOVENORMAL
- Start application in the ABOVENORMAL priority class
- BELOWNORMAL
- Start application in the BELOWNORMAL priority class