Hi Geoff,
Is there anyway to "restrict" the amount of cpu/resources that the application uses ?
The users understand that it takes a specific amount of time, however, they would like to use their workstation for other tasks. Once launched our app consumes all the cpu resources so the workstation appears "Frozen".
One quick way to check if CPU process prioritisation will improve the situation without coding is to run up the app, then go to Task Manager -> Processes, right-click the process in question and use the Set Priority settings.
If that does the trick for you then you can adjust your application's shortcut to use the "start" command to launch the app. "start" allows you to set the priority upon launching the program. E.g.
start /low c:\windows\notepad.exe
This could be one way to maintain (assuming you have already) cross-platform capabilities. If you're using an installer system you could even adjust the shortcuts using that and never have to worry about it again. Or until the users say that now it's running too slow 
Regards,
Wayne