Associate Specific Program with One Processor Core

 

You can encourage XP or Vista to run a particular process on a particular CPU by setting its Processor Affinity. Launch the Task Manager, click the Applications tab, right-click the desired application, and choose Go To Process from the pop-up menu. Right-click the highlighted process and choose Set Affinity. Check only the box for the desired CPU and click OK.

 

Do notice, though, that this feature is called processor affinity, not processor lock. All things being equal, Windows will choose the specified CPU for your process. But if that CPU is busy and the other CPU is idle, Windows won't force your application onto the busy CPU. You may or may not see a performance benefit.