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History
TopWinPrio began as a small side project in 2010, created while I was studying C# programming as an upgrade from my earlier C++ education. I wanted a way to keep my active window responsive — especially when running several heavy programs at once — so I built a foreground-priority manager in .NET 3.5, which directly adjusted CPU priorities through the Windows API.
To my surprise, the app quickly found an audience. Thousands of users downloaded it, and several YouTubers made tutorials and demos showing how to use it. (Some of these older videos still float around on YouTube if you search for “TopWinPrio Windows process priority” — many referring back to the old LunaWorX site.)
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 2010 | First version of TopWinPrio written in C# (.NET 3.5) — inspired by older C++ experiments. |
| 2012 | A hard-drive crash erased the original source code. The app was later recovered through ILSpy — an open-source .NET decompiler. |
| 2012 – 2018 | Experimented with multiple redesigns, tray icons, and UI optimizations to make the tool more lightweight and reliable. |
| June 30, 2018 | Official open-source release of TopWinPrio on GitHub. |
| 2018 | I retired the old domain LunaWorX.net and launched marcusmedina.pro as my personal portfolio and knowledge base. |
| 2025 | Revival and modernization: with help from AI assistants (including Claude Code), the project is being upgraded to modern .NET 8 standards. New digitally-signed binaries are introduced to reduce false antivirus detections. |
When TopWinPrio first appeared, Windows lacked built-in process priority management for foreground tasks. Gamers, developers, and multimedia users found that it noticeably improved responsiveness on older CPUs. Later Windows versions (8 → 11) added some background throttling features — but the same principles still apply, and TopWinPrio continues to be effective even on Windows 11.
The project’s resurrection in 2025 marks its third major life:
- The original educational tool (2010–2012)
- The hobby-optimization years (2012–2018)
- The community-driven open-source upgrade (2025 → )
TopWinPrio’s story mirrors that of many indie Windows utilities — created by a student, adopted by thousands, lost in a crash, and revived through open source.
It remains a practical example of how .NET, Win32 interop, and open-source collaboration can keep a small but beloved Windows utility alive across decades of runtime changes.