Using Processor usage to monitor VP

[Nationalsolo]

Hi

Some people might find this idea useful. (.. and then perhaps not :-))

 

Older versions of VP had a moving blue Windows-like progress bar at the bottom right of the screen

which gave one a clue as to how the program was working. Later the green line was introduced that

moved along the timeline above the clips. At the start this was quite wide and visible. Now it is quite

narrow and not all that easily seen being a rather pastel green.

 

Following problems of the program stopping or running very slowly or never finishing when tasks were being done in VP (and noting that there were questions on the forum about PCs doing this; running very slowly or running at 100% etc whilst editing,) I decided to look at background jobs that were set to run at computer startup as using the processor usage utility I found my PC was running at around 50% when at rest! After killing or removing some of these unwanted programs (using CCleaner) my PC now runs at around 1% when at rest and VP is now performing much better.

 

In VIsta I can now use the processor usage window to monitor when VP has completed its work.

 

Use Ctrl-Alt-Delete and open the task manager.

Click Performances tab

Double click the border of the window and then reduce size to show just the vertical bar graph. Make it as small as you can. In the icon tray check it to be always visible. (You can always bring it back to normal etc by double clicking the border of the thumbnail you now have)

 

Open VP and position the thumbnail in the black space to the right of the preview image.As shown below.

Now you can see at all times when VP has finished working on your editing tasks etc. as the usage will drop back to the bottom enabling you do another editing step. It will probably run around 90 - 100% when doing the work.

 

Note that even when the green bar has apparently finished moving VP can still be doing something making the PC slow down. At least it will enable you to see of something else is causing those stoppages.

 

Nat