Threads scheduling - priority boost

Each thread has a dynamic priority. This is the priority the scheduler uses to determine which thread to execute. Initially, a thread's dynamic priority is the same as its base priority. The system can boost and lower the dynamic priority, to ensure that it is responsive and that no threads are starved for processor time. The system does not boost the priority of threads with a base priority level between 16 and 31. Only threads with a base priority between 0 and 15 receive dynamic priority boosts.

Another situation causes the system to dynamically boost a thread's priority level. Imagine a priority 4 thread that is ready to run but cannot because a priority 8 thread is constantly schedulable. In this scenario, the priority 4 thread is being starved of CPU time. When the system detects that a thread has been starved of CPU time for about three to four seconds, it dynamically boosts the starving thread's priority to 15 and allows that thread to run for twice its time quantum. When the double time quantum expires, the thread's priority immediately returns to its base priority.

When the user works with windows of a process, that process is said to be the foreground process and all other processes are background processes. Certainly, a user would prefer the process that he or she is using to behave more responsively than the background processes. To improve the responsiveness of the foreground process, Windows tweaks the scheduling algorithm for threads in the foreground process. For Windows 2000, the system gives foreground process threads a larger time quantum than they would usually receive. This tweak is performed only if the foreground process is of the normal priority class. If it is of any other priority class, no tweaking is performed.