Quote:
quote:Originally posted by dodol
Hi, when I'm having video conversation with my friend the other day, my friend noticed that the video started to get really choppy whenever I minimize my window. His video would start getting choppy and soon after that the video session would end itself. But the video will run smoothly if I maximize the windows. The video is smoother and the video session won't disconnect itself on its own.
|
Okay, here goes...
Each task/program that Windows runs is called a 'thread.' For example, MSN Messenger is the thread 'msmsgs.exe' and Messenger Plus! is 'MsgPlus.exe.' Each thread uses it's own number of system resources and has it's own priority. This priority controls what Windows will do if an application is requesting system resources that other programs use.
Let's say you have a lot of applications running and nearly all system resources are in use. Then you go to the Trillian window and you click 'Sort alphabetically' on the contact list. This will require a lot of resources, so Trillian asks Windows for more resources. Windows can't give more, since all resources are in use, so it looks at all the other threads. If it finds a thread that is using a lot of resources and that has a lower priority than 'Trillian.exe', it will give some of the resources that the thread uses to Trillian.
Now the big question. How does Windows determine the priority? Generally, the program itself does. Computer games will generally set a high priority for itself, while MSN Messenger (for example) doesn't need so much resources so it runs with the standard priority. But, there are also other things that determine the priority. If the window is currently active (selected), Windows will give it a higher priority too, so the application you are using won't be slowed down by things in the background.
So, this is what happens exactly:
- You start a video conversation on MSN Messenger which uses up a lot of system resources
- You switch to another window so MSN Messenger loses it's priority
- Then, some thread with a higher priority than MSN Messenger needs a lot of resources. Since MSN Messenger (with a low priority) is using quite a bit, Windows will give the resources MSN Messenger uses to the other thread/program.
- MSN Messenger notices this and can't complete all the tasks it was doing, so the video quality gets bad. MSN Messenger tries a few more times, but really can't complete it's running tasks, so it cancels them. Byebye video conversation!
Very interesting and all... but what can I actually do about this?
Well... not too much. Either way, you have to make sure that MSN Messenger gets enough system resources. This can be done by:
- making sure there are enough free resources (by closing some programs down)
- giving MSN Messenger a higher priority over other threads (by selecting the window)
- getting more available system resources for Windows (by getting yourself a faster, more powerful PC)
Windows NT based systems (NT4, 2000, XP) also have a way of setting a custom priority for a process, but since you do not have this Windows version I will not explain this.
