Is there a way to prevent all other applications

Is there a way to prevent all other open applicationsto stay dorments when the VB6 application is doing serial comm with some critical timing isue?

You may be able to simply click on each open program window and close those programs. This will remove as many active processes as possible that could interfere with the VB6 application.

I dont know how to do it in code but if you are using XP or above then you can set the process priority in task manager. I dont recommend using realtime because any processing you do will lock up everything including windows but high will ensure your app has more priority

Is there a way to prevent all other open applicationsto stay dorments when the VB6 application is doing serial comm with some critical timing isue?
I'd examine the 'critical timing issues' . MSComm might not be the best solution.

What are the critical factors?

to your comment...(MSComm might not be the best solution)
What could be an alternative to MSComm?

There are APIs which write to the com port asif it was a file. I use them in my lighting software and the timing in that app is about as critical as it gets unless your working with life support software but that would be illegal.

There is even an alternative to the APIs. You can use VBs built in file commands to use the com port


dim fileID as integer
fileid=freefile
open "com1:" for binary access write as #fileid

put #fileid,,"test data"
close #fileid


Whichever way you do it though the bottle kneck is really the baud rate on the com port and not the code you are running.

As DougT said "What are the critical factors?". Why does it need to run so fast that everything else on the PC must stop dead? If its so important then maybe you should be using hardware to process the data. If you tell us what you are doing we can advise on the best solution

Thanks SPK; I like to try your idea, I have a hex file (about 90K) that I need to download to hardware. Should I send 1024 bytes at the time?
do
tString = [next 1024 bytes from the HEX file]
put #fileid,,tString
loop…
OR perhaps VBs built in file commands can handle the entire file?

All the methods can easily handle files a lot bigger than that but it will still be sent in the same way.

Is this file some kind of settings for a device?