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Linux starts many processes with priority 0, which is the highest priority (as the rule of thumb is that the lower the number, the greater the priority). If you are running any resource hungry application then this priority mechanism causes some problems. In many cases you will need to tell your Linux distribution, which process to run on which priority so that the resource allocation should be according to the respective needs.

You can change the priority in two ways:

1. Using System Monitor

gnome system monitor

Go to System > Administration > System Monitor, on the "Processes" tab, and then right click any process and select "Change priority" and select the desired priority for a process. Please note that each process priority is displayed in the "Nice" column.

The above method describes setting a process priority for Gnome but it's very similar for KDE too.

2. Using the terminal.

Simply write this in a terminal:
sudo nice <process_name> <priority> &
For example, to give Firefox priority 5:
sudo nice firefox 5 &

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