Some time ago I talked about the virtues of Process Lasso, a program that helps us control the behavior of resident processes. That software includes several secondary functions, but many users are interested in its specific work at the processor level, the cores, and the reassignment of priorities for those applications that get out of control. The answer to that demand is CPUBalance, a simpler and more distilled version of Process Lasso.
The latest versions of the most popular programs are not optimized for systems with limited resources. There are still many basic computers and terminals out there being used, struggling with browsers, antivirus, graphics editors, and other essential tools. Personally, one of my systems is based on an Athlon 5150, and despite having four cores, both Firefox and Google Chrome drive it crazy. Some developers have very distorted "hardware expectations", and affected users must either search for older versions (which always represents a security risk) or try to apply some discipline to gluttonous processes.
CPUBalance: process manager
Those who prefer the second option have an ally in CPUBalance, developed by Bitsum, the same company behind Process Lasso. From a certain point of view, CPUBalance is a "mini" Process Lasso that offers only the process management function. CPUBalance allows us to set percentage limits for its activation (say, when the system is already using 50% of the CPU, for example), ignore foreground processes and secondary processes of the same program, change core affinity, or disable optimization entirely if the computer spends a certain number of minutes idle.
In general, the factory parameters are quite solid, but there is plenty of room to experiment. The main interface presents a log with the managed processes, the number of events, and the date of the last intervention.
Finally, I must say the following: If we have a robust processor, with good per-core frequency and decent single-threading performance, it is very likely that CPUBalance is a simple placebo. Even so, I invite you to try it, especially on computers that don't have high CPU frequency and need a little more help. The free version of CPUBalance has only a couple of minor restrictions; the rest works without problems.
