By default, Windows gives slight priority to foreground activities. But, you may have unknowingly changed your setting to provide equal importance. Or you simply want to prioritize foreground apps even more. Using System Properties is the quickest way to set CPU priority to prioritize foreground apps. Here’s how you can do so: However, this method still does not bring foreground apps to the highest priority. You’ll need to execute the next method for this purpose.
How to Set CPU Priority to Prefer Foreground Apps Through Registry Editor
You can also change the CPU priority using the Registry Editor. This method offers more options compared to the above. You need to alter the DWORD value Win32PrioritySeparation to define the relative priority of foreground and background apps. To do so,
How to Set Priority of Specific Process Using Task Manager
This method is more tiresome than previous ones if you want to set priority for multiple apps. However, you can prioritize individual apps instead of all the foreground or background apps at once. Follow the steps below to change priority using the Task Manager: Do this for all the processes you want and close the Task Manager.
How to Set CPU Priority to Prefer Foreground Apps With Command Prompt
You can also use the Command-line interface to set the priority for individual processes. However, since you need to know the name of the process, using the GUI might be more convenient. Regardless, if you want to use the CLI, Make sure to replace “Process Name” with the full name of the process along with its extension and “Priority Level” to the priority you want, in this case, “High” or “AboveNormal” without removing the quote symbols. As an example, wmic process where name=”vlc.exe” call setpriority “High”
Does Setting CPU Priority to Prefer Foreground Apps Improve Performance?
Enabling high priority for foreground apps will improve performance in many cases. But some apps are known to use several background apps. Apps that use the internet or simulators are some examples. In such cases, preferring foreground apps will instead affect app performance. Nevertheless, if you are running apps as a standalone process, feel free to increase their priority.
Can’t change priority in Task Manager.
You should be able to change app priority in Task Manager if you’re logged in as an administrator. If you still can’t, you likely don’t have full control of the process. To fix this, Now you should be able to set priority.
