Choppy Video Playback On Older Systems

One of the biggest features I enjoy about having a dual-monitor setup is the ability to watch a movie on one screen while working and browsing the web on the other. As it turns out though, an old P4 Northwood single core doesn't like handling DVD playback and Firefox at the same time. While browsing the web, video becomes choppy and frozen at times.

Fortunately, I've found an easy fix for this problem. Open up Task Manager, navigate to the Processes tab, and right click on the media player process you are using to watch videos. Under the Priority submenu, choose High and/or Realtime. Windows will warn you about system instability, just ignore it like you would User Account Control.

After those few simple steps, the video playback is smooth and much more enjoyable, and the performance of Firefox and other applications have been barely impacted. A good way to give a little more life to an older system.