Slowdown utility

A slowdown utility is software designed to reduce the execution speed of other programs. Typically this is used to run old games, which will run too fast or not function properly on more modern high speed machines. Mo'Slo is a modern slowdown utility that uses command line switches to select a slowdown factor. An example of a (non-free) Windows-based slowdown utility is CPU Killer.

Emulation is an alternative to using slowdown utilities. For example, DOSBox can be adjusted to run at various speeds.

Some slowdown utilities work by eating up CPU cycles. Bremze (Latvian for 'brake') slows down PC performance by controlling the speed of execution of programs. Others work by rapidly pausing and resuming the execution of the target software to achieve the desired execution speed. This may be implemented through the sleep() system call. In Linux, a simple loop such as while :; do sleep .05; kill -CONT [pid]; sleep .01; kill -STOP [pid]; donecan achieve this effect. However, the downside to cycling sleep and running states rather than cycle emulation is that interactive software will acquire a notable stutter if too little time is spent awake, too much time is spent sleeping, or a combination of both.

External links

• Slowdown Utilities
• Cpukiller 3 official site
• Mo'Slo Computer Slowdown Software official site
• DOSBox official site