v9_whitepaper

MAXIMUM USER CONTROL

Set Process Priority Permanently! Set CPU Affinity Permanently!

Priority Master 2009 is simply the most advanced multitasking architecture available anywhere at any price and the maximum control a user can have over a computer! This results in spectacular multitasking capability, vastly superior performance and provides total program management and absolute user control. Instantly and automatically get 2X/10X/100X multitasking power on default install!

Increasing Multitasking Capabilities on *Windows

A Technical White Paper by Ted Waldron III

Abstract (Updated for Version 9.7)

This paper is focused on the Priority Master 2009 program running on Windows 2K/XP/Vista 32/64 with 1/2/4/8 processors. In this paper, the issues surrounding program prioritization at the user level and the associated performance impacts on user response time and total system throughput are exposed. There is particular emphasis on the performance gains directly associated with using lists of program names for automatic program prioritization, CPU affinity and automatic program specific termination. Also, the Full Time DEFENDER that automatically puts all background programs into the Idle Class for fast foreground responses. This can be switched off and all previously assigned priorities are instantly restored. The automatic nature of the program and process prioritization capabilities give the user multitasking capabilities that can not be matched on any other operating system platform or any other software.

Finally, the presented information is summarized so as to provide a cost of doing computer related activities at your installation.

A discussion of the various political decisions relating to implementing an operating system/application platform is beyond the scope of this paper. This disclosure is pertaining to Windows 2K/XP/Vista operating systems.

Multitasking and total system performance

Anyone using the Windows 2K/XP/Vista (or any other operating system) will quickly notice very unacceptable delays of the keyboard and/or mouse when trying to run more than a handful of programs at the same time. An enormous performance drop can be experienced running even only a single program. An example can be an antivirus program, a disk defragmentation or any one of a number of resource intensive programs. The inherent multitasking capabilities of the operating system are irrelevant if the user does not run multiple programs at the same time. The most important concept for the user to have is a general idea of the amount CPU time and resources required by a given program. If the user decides to run a single task at a time such a burning a CD or scanning a document or printing a document, then it will take significantly longer to do a list of tasks. Knowing how much of the systems resources are needed for a particular task will in many cases allow you to run a foreground program and allow the background program any resources not being used by your primary program of interest. Even that will limit you to two resource intensive programs. In any event, users instinctively know to minimize the workload to keep the systems responses to a tolerable level. This results in an extremely large amount of lost productivity - lost while the CPU is spinning at full speed in the system idle loop.

More importantly is the fact that humans in general view running a program on a computer as a "request". A virtual trial and error test to see if the machine can handle one more program running and still have acceptable delays in the keyboard and mouse. If it does not handle it, then the machine stops responding completely and the expression is "goes out to lunch". As a direct result, less than 25% of the computer's power is actually used! As it is stated in the Online Help, to find the amount of wasted CPU time is easy. Just use the Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL), select the Processes notebook tab and see how much time is reported for the System Idle Process. It is a good bet that worldwide, at least 3/4 of the day is wasted while the CPU spins its brains out doing nothing! This wasted time is spent just so that the user can get quick responses for the occasional and most likely single program that needs to be run. Therefore, the system performance degradation means that humans inherently avoid multitasking and that guarantees little use of the systems resources. If you already think that being able to recover all of the lost CPU cycles and still get fast responses is the objective of the Priority Master program, you would be correct. Stated another way: Priority Master 2009 recovers 75% to 95% of world wide wasted CPU time by effectively managing the priority of background processes.

Multitasking and CPU scheduling

Today's modern desktop computers are amazingly powerful. It seems almost senseless to run only a single program at a time. A user attempting to run several concurrent programs simultaneously will inevitably experience noticeable delays in the response speed of the keyboard, mouse and the system in general. The intent of a priority preemptive operating system was to reduce this problem by running the highest priority program exclusively until it voluntarily relinquished the CPU. Sounds good in theory, however, it is a miserable failure in practice. This failure is due to the fact that the user can not effectively assign a priority to the programs. So, the reality is that the more programs that you run, the slower your machine's responses become. Priority Master 2009 solves this very problem.

Automated Program Prioritization

There are many ways to describe all programs in general. However, let us limit the discussion to how important the program is to have a fast responses. Windows has 6 priority Classes: RealTime, High, Above Normal, Normal, Below Normal and Idle. The Window's CPU scheduler will run all of the program in the RealTime Class first, then all of the programs in the High Class, then all of the programs in the Normal Class and finally when there is nothing else to run at given instant in time, all of the programs in Idle Class. Generally speaking, programs have threads and these do specific functions and when those functions are not being used by the user, the threads sleep or suspend. This allows other lower priority programs to run.

The Priority Master program allows a user to "set and forget" the priority of a program. This gives enormous performance advantages for the entire system when resource hogs are automatically forced into the Idle class any time that they run. Similarly, important programs will always have a high priority. Using the 6 "Set and Forget" priority classes to pre-assign your most common programs gives the user far superior ability to run multiple programs at the same time. This also changes the user's perception about how much work can actually be done while maintaining acceptable system response times. This also provides worry-free access to busy system that is actually doing a lot of work in the background. The intent is to allow a significant amount of work to be done and not have the user afraid to start a new more important program without having to close multiple applications only to have to restart them later.

Visual Priority Identification

The Priority Master program displays the program class and combined priority (higher number is higher in priority). The exact manor in which Windows applies priority is rather complicated. This is graphically displayed in the priority dialogs and Online Help. The important thing to note is that users will at some time just simply wonder what is taking so long and not even having a clue as what is actually running, will inevitably reduce the work load by stopping and removing running programs. Having the priority included in the window title, on the task bar and a list sorted highest priority to lowest provides the information the user needs to reassign one or more processes as desired. The Class Distribution Analysis and Physical Memory Usage Status provides a spectacular universal template for the only correct method of program priority setting that achieves both high throughput and fast responses in all tactical scenarios!

Various Program Lists

The Priority Master program maintains a comprehensive set of program lists to cover all tactical prioritization/performance/security scenarios. Implementation of these lists provide a multitasking methodology that is a watershed event in computer science history! The lists are as follows:

These 12 program lists allow the end-user virtually unlimited power and flexibility. Together with foreground boost, automatic priority recovery logic and visual priority identification, the list methodology provides the most powerful multitasking platform available anywhere on the planet!

The issues in Program Priority

The user is lowest on the ladder when it comes to determining the priority of a given program,. The Windows operating system defaults everything to Normal priority. There are also about 20 Windows processes at various priorities. The application programmers can set the priority inside of the program. Both can block any attempt to change the priority. Where does that leave the user if they think that the program is hogging the systems resources or not getting enough system resources when running multiple program at the same time? Up the proverbial creek without a paddle. The Task Manager can be used to change the priority. However, you will have to do every time that you run the program. If the program sets its priority internally, the Task Manager will not help. However, both cases are covered in Priority Master because the program will be automatically set any time that it runs and it uses a priority jack hammer to force the user selected priority.

It is the stated position of ScheduPerformance and the Priority Master program that the USER should have the final authority on the process priority.

Additional features in Priority Master

New in the 2009 version is the ability easily set the CPU affinity for 1,2,4 or 8 processors. Just use the desktop icon, program name in the explorer or the main window GUI. It instantly sets to the selected processors and is continuously enforced. The user can view the list of program names and associated processor and export this to file to be used on other computers. This makes mapping programs to processor very easy and can result in better performance.

The burning of a CD or DVD is automatically recognized. This engages the MAXI-PROTECT Package when the software runs. This insures that it is the highest priority process in the system and guarantees the fastest possible burn time and an error-free burn.

There is built in automatic priority recovery logic that prevents the system from freezing up when a RealTime priority program hogs all of the CPU time. This logic is automatically activated any time that there is any programs executing in the RealTime class and is automatically turned off when there are no programs executing in the RealTime class. Once activated, a RealTime program must relinquish the CPU within 10 seconds or it's priority will automatically be reduced to Normal. This prevents the machine from having to be rebooted.

The user may step into a situation in which the machine is unresponsive or a virus is active or they just want to freeze everything. The DEFENDER will take a snapshot of the running programs priorities and put everything into the Idle Class. This makes the entire system very responsive to any new activity. These priorities can be restored with a single button. Also, all running programs or individual programs can be terminated with a single button.

The Program Class Distribution Analysis and Physical Memory Usage Status provides the user with a very useful performance metric. This is the only known way that a user can tell if the machine is performing at it's inherent maximum level. The user should have some less important background activity (such as disk defragmentation, virus scanning etc) at a low priority and other programs to span the range of priority classes. This is the only way to get outstanding performance and very fast response times.

The program that you are currently executing on and has the border highlighted or mouse and keyboard activated for is the foreground task. There is a highly recommended "Foreground Boost" feature that gives a very large priority boost. This is very bad if you switch to a program that hogs all of the CPU cycles so that the background get nothing. There is a Foreground Exclude list to solve this problem. Just add it to the list once and note that the program may also appear in any of the 6 automatically prioritized lists.

There is a class of programs that seemingly come out of nowhere and disappear before you can even find out what the program name was using the Task Manager. The New Program Detect and Optionally Terminate feature allows you superior performance and security. You can do things like prevent your 8 year old son from running certain programs! Unless the person knows that Priority Master is preventing the program running, it will be very difficult to determine why the program will not run.

"Super preemption"

When a higher priority program becomes ready to run and replaces the currently executing program, it is called preemption. The higher level of that concept is when a user who is aware of the priorities of various concurrently executing programs by visual identification intentionally, permanently or temporarily sets another program higher in priority than the currently executing process. Conversely, when an unaware user's currently executing program is preempted by a higher priority program, the user's performance suffers. The Priority Master 2009 program.was designed to provide this "super" preemption at all times via the prioritization lists, foreground boost methodology and other aspects of the program.

Simply put, the user can stack a group of programs that are just "nice" to have running and not have to worry about the machine slowing down. These are programs like disk defragmentation, ant-virus scans, pest scanners like Pest Patrol or similar programs. Conversely, you may want a program like winamp to have a slightly higher priority so that the CD or song from disk does not break up during playback. Setting a priority permanently increases productivity and decreases stress associated with non-responsive programs.

The operation of the MAXI-PROTECT Package is such that it allows one or more programs to get absolute control of the CPU ahead of all other programs. It does this by scanning all of the running programs priority for the RealTime priority Class and storing the priorities of any programs. These programs are reduced to the next lower Class (High). Internally a flag is set to prevent any new programs from executing in the RealTime Class. Although the need for capability is admittedly rare, it has massive implications for security software and anytime you need one or more programs to get all of the CPU needed.

Full Time DEFENDER

The fact is that the basic user of a computer only has one or few programs that they want to run. Virtually everyone on the planet wants a faster computer. Background programs, hidden processes and Windows internal processes interfere with the basic users desire to get the CPU to run the program(s) that they want to respond. The Full Time DEFENDER actually provides a defense shield against these unwanted CPU hogging processes. That allows the user to get fast responses from the foreground application, the mouse and keyboard while running resource intensive "hogs" in the background. Programs like disk defragmentation, antivirus scans, antispyware scans, disk check, printing, SETI and others can now run and the user gets good system responses. opening programs is also faster. This can be switched off at any time and the programs priorities stored in the Automatically Prioritized Programs Lists, Hot List, Run List and any Manual Priority Overrides are instantly restored. Priorities in the window titles and Task Bar are also instantly changed. When a user witnesses this capability and starts to add programs and see the result of devices and programs speed up and slow down on demand, they get the first true feeling of real power over their computer in their lifetime!

RealTime DEFENDER

Programs in the RealTime Class operate higher than the keyboard and mouse and can freeze a machine indefinitely. Just think about that for one minute. You never want any programs running on the RealTime Class that you don't know about. The RealTime DEFENDER will automatically reduce the priority to High if the program is not already listed in the permanently prioritized list (CD/DVD burner Class) and optionally inform you of the program details.

Automatic Termination of UnListed RealTime Programs

Programs that were not present when Priority Master loaded or in any of the 6 prioritization Lists represent a real threat to the user's control of the machine. Selecting this option will automatically terminate them and probably save you a reboot.

Automatic Termination of All UnListed Programs

Programs that were not present when Priority Master loaded or in any of the 6 prioritization are simply rogue programs that can hog your system's resources. This option acts like a panic button and terminates any new programs that started since Priority Master loaded or is not in any of the 6 prioritization Lists. This can probably save you a reboot. This capability to automatically terminate any process not already approved by the user represents a level of user control of programs executing that is unmatched in the entire computer industry.

Logging

Programs actions can be selectively logged to file for detailed analysis. You can investigate the processes that come in and exit quickly and add them to the automatic termination list if you don't want them running. It also gives a historical record. Did I run that program already? There are four logging options:

Log Programs Starting - If this option is on at system boot time, the all processes will be reported. This also includes log entries for user terminated programs, terminated UnListedRealTime programs and terminated programs that are not in the list.

Log Programs not in the Lists - Creates a log entry for all programs that are not on any of the lists or were not present when the Priority Master program started.

Log Failed Set Priority - Creates a log entry only one time per process. There are no further attempts to reset the process priority.

View Log File - starts a Notepad.exe with the log contents. You can search and save the log contents using the notepad's functions.

Permanent CPU Affinity (New in the 2009 version)

The Windows CPU scheduler attempts to balance the load across the available processors. This can be impressively bad for performance and throughput. Since CPU0 is the only processor that can handle the interrupts (from the keyboard, mouse, disc, system timer etc.), it is better to load all processors first and load CPU0 last. Worse, multithreaded applications can have their threads bounce between the processor and loose their processor cache coherency. This can deteriorate to the point that it is worse to have 2 processor than it is to have a single processor. The user can gain substantial overall performance by setting CPU processor affinity and Priority Master 2009 makes this an easy one time task.

Suspend/Resume one or ALL programs at once (New in the 2009 version)

The program will not get any CPU time if it is suspended. This can free up the processor to run other programs. The Suspend ALL and Resume ALL options give you complete CPU power to start and use another program. This gives you an awesome amount of control.

Force Single Copy (New in the 2009 version)

This can be set from the desktop icon, explore or in the main window on the selected program. This will prevent the aggravation of having to use the Task Manager to find the additional copies and kill them. Virtually all computer users have one or more programs that they never want multiple copies of the program to run at the same time.

Summary

The fact is that it does not matter how fast the processor is, how much memory you have or how much the computer cost if the program that you want to run is not running! One can not assume that the Windows operating system is going to read their mind and slice out the CPU time just how you want it when running multiple programs at the same time. While running one or just a few programs at the same time will maintain fast user responses, you end up wasting a significant portion of the system resources! You also waste a lot of time by running programs one after another instead of running multiple programs at the same time! The only correct solution to multitasking is to prioritize a list of programs with automatic reprioritization capabilities on demand and the only correct methodology for doing this is in the Priority Master application.

Finally, the full potential multitasking capabilities of the Priority Master 2009 program are very impressive due to the sheer number of programs and priorities that can be arranged. Any computer running the Priority Master 2009 program to it's fullest potential is unrecognizable as the original machine by comparison.