diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
index 72f47f442..c68fdfdc5 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2003-02-07  Vaclav Haisman  <V.Haisman@sh.cvut.cz>
+	    Christopher Faylor  <cgf@redhat.com>
+
+	* exceptions.cc (try_to_debug): Set priority of current thread rather
+	than the main thread.  Make busy waiting loop less busy.  Restore
+	priority when function returns.
+
 2003-02-07  Christopher Faylor  <cgf@redhat.com>
 
 	* malloc.cc (DEFAULT_MMAP_THRESHOLD): Set high to avoid mmaps.
diff --git a/winsup/cygwin/exceptions.cc b/winsup/cygwin/exceptions.cc
index 84b2f1751..352cda0d0 100644
--- a/winsup/cygwin/exceptions.cc
+++ b/winsup/cygwin/exceptions.cc
@@ -343,7 +343,8 @@ try_to_debug (bool waitloop)
 
   __small_sprintf (strchr (debugger_command, '\0'), " %u", GetCurrentProcessId ());
 
-  SetThreadPriority (hMainThread, THREAD_PRIORITY_HIGHEST);
+  LONG prio = GetThreadPriority (GetCurrentThread ());
+  SetThreadPriority (GetCurrentThread (), THREAD_PRIORITY_HIGHEST);
   PROCESS_INFORMATION pi = {NULL, 0, 0, 0};
 
   STARTUPINFO si = {0, NULL, NULL, NULL, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL};
@@ -391,15 +392,17 @@ try_to_debug (bool waitloop)
     system_printf ("Failed to start debugger: %E");
   else
     {
-      SetThreadPriority (hMainThread, THREAD_PRIORITY_IDLE);
+      SetThreadPriority (GetCurrentThread (), THREAD_PRIORITY_IDLE);
       if (!waitloop)
 	return 1;
       while (!being_debugged ())
-	/* spin */;
-      Sleep (4000);
+	Sleep (0);
+      Sleep (2000);
       small_printf ("*** continuing from debugger call\n");
     }
 
+  SetThreadPriority (GetCurrentThread (), prio);
+
   /* FIXME: need to know handles of all running threads to
     resume_all_threads_except (current_thread_id);
   */