MCSA/MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-270): Installing ...

19-6 Chapter 19 Monitoring and Optimizing System Performance
Caution You should change the priority of processes only when there is a process that
needs priority over (or is less important than) other running processes; even then, you should
try to use only the AboveNormal, Normal, and BelowNormal levels. Setting a process at too
high a base priority (such as RealTime) can consume enough system resources that other
vital processes cannot function properly.
How to Set Processor Affinity
Windows XP Professional can support two processors running on the same computer.
When two processors are installed, Windows XP Professional does a good job of
assigning processes to processors based on need. However, you can assign a particular
process to a specific processor. (This is referred to as assigning processor affinity to
a process; of course, it is available only on computers with two processors or on computers
with a hyperthreaded processor in which multiple processes can run simultaneously
on one processor.)
To assign a process to a processor, use the following steps:
1. In Task Manager, on the Processes tab, right-click a process and then click Set
Affinity.
2. In the Processor Affinity dialog box, select the processors on which the process
should be allowed to run. By default, both processors (CPU 0 and CPU 1) are
selected for a processor.
Caution Controlling processor affinity can improve performance by reducing the number of
processor cache flushes that occur as threads move from one processor to another. This
might be a good option for dedicated file servers. However, be aware that dedicating a program
to a particular processor might not allow other program threads to migrate to the leastbusy
processor.
How to Monitor System Performance
You can use the Performance tab in the Task Manager dialog box (see Figure 19-3) to
see a current overview of system performance that includes information about the CPU
(or CPUs on a computer with two processors), physical memory, and virtual memory.