setting priority classes for background processes

[mako]

hi all, i've been using process lasso and been seeing a lot of tips saying that i should set the priority class of background processes lower rather than setting other processes to a higher priority.

i'm unsure of which process i'm safely able to set to idle. is it safe to set all processes to idle, or are there certain processes i need to avoid touching? if so do let me know

thanks! 

[Jeremy Collake]

Generally, you don't *need* to do that, and should just let ProBalance handle it automatically.

That said, if you do set idle priority for some processes, I'd focus on the ones that are likely to be impactful. To determine that, you can sort by the CPU time column and see which are even consuming CPU. Then you can look at those and try to assess which are non-critical. Be careful of modifying system services that running applications might depend on and avoid tampering with security related services since their system-wide hooks can be blocking. ProBalance takes all that into consideration already and gets tuning updates.

[scotts]

What if I wanted to give 1 process high CPU priority, and all other processes Below Normal priority?
I can create a Profile for the 1 process, but will Pro Balance give all other processes below normal priority?

[Jeremy Collake]

ProBalance would reduce the priorities of other processes when it deems necessary to protect system responsiveness, and wouldn't touch your high priority process.

If you want a permanent below normal for all other processes, you can create a CPU priority rule with an all-inclusive wildcard (e.g. "*\program files\*") and place it after the high priority rule in the 'Options / CPU / CPU Priorities...' dialog.

However, I recommend targeted rules, meaning only set permanent below normal priorities for processes where that makes sense.

[scotts]

Got it, thank you.