Trouble changing priority of program in registry

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WinUser39

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• Mar 26, 2026

• #1

I'd like to permanently set a program to have a higher priority than normal. I found a few websites recommending the same registry change but it doesn't seem to have any effect. Does anyone know if this works in Win11 or am I doing something wrong? Here's the registry key I created:

Code:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\betterbird.exe\PerfOptions]

I'm running Win11 pro ver 25H2

 

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neemobeer

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• Mar 26, 2026

• #2

I'll just say I don't ever recommend messing with these settings unless you really know what you're doing. You can easy starve other important processes of resources and end up making your computer run VERY sub-optimal.

 

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garlin

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• Mar 26, 2026

• #3

That's an incomplete reg key, because no parameter values are defined under PerfOptions.

Please read this Gist carefully, and follow the example:
Windows: Image File Execution Options (IFEO) Performance Options (PerfOptions)

You may break your system by hard-coding values if you're not too careful playing around with the wrong processes.

 

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Brink

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• Mar 26, 2026

• #4

You can see if creating a shortcut to run the app at the CPU priority level you want like in option 4 below may work for you.

Set CPU Process Priority for Applications in Windows 10

How to Set CPU Process Priority for Applications in Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

 

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WinUser39

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• Mar 26, 2026

• #5

I've already tried creating a shortcut using this as the target:

Code:

cmd /c start "" /high "C:\Program Files\Betterbird\betterbird.exe"

It runs the program but the priority remains at normal. Same thing happens if I run it directly from the commandline

 

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das10

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• Mar 27, 2026

• #6

Notepad "CpuPriorityClass" test only. Tested REG_DWORD 1 to 6 (REG_DWORD 4 which refers to RealTime. did not work).

 

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