When the system reports the CPU usage at 100%, that hardly ever means that 
the demand on the system is precisely equal to its capacity.  It more likely 
means that some task has gotten stuck in some tight loop of code that wants 
"all the CPU that's available", and while reducing its priority (if 
possible) will reduce its impact on other processes, the CPU will be shown 
at 100% as long as that process is running at all.

  Some program debugging tools have capabilities to link into a running 
process and modify it, but they're really only usable by advanced 
programmers who have and understand the source code to the application -- 
and they generally cost more than most applications, too.  So not really a 
solution for you.

David Gillett


On 7 Oct 2006 at 13:11, D Duncan wrote:

> When a program freezes, is there a way to release some of the CPU so 
> as to at least save the work before closing the program?
> 
> Or perhaps I have the logic screwy.  Yesterday, my mom's Final Draft 
> froze before she was able to save the document she was currently 
> working on.  In the Task Manager, her system was using 100% of CPU, 
> so I ended a few processes to see if that would release some 
> resources and allow her to return to Final Draft and save the 
> document and then close.  That was unsuccessful - it kept indicating 
> 100% CPU, so the only thing I could think of was to take a screen 
> capture of the UI and have a morsel of the document to try to 
> recreate from.  Thankfully, she only lost the first half of the page 
> before this happened.(the first half being out of view/above the 
> fold/whatever you call it)
> 
> Then I started wondering, if 100% CPU was indicated as being in use, 
> how was it possible to take the capture?
> 
> What, if anything, could I have done that would have saved the document?
> 
> This instance, the system is XP Home, Final Draft 7.
> 
> Thanks,
> Diane
> 
>                          PCSOFT's List Owner's:
>                       Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
>                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>

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