diff --git a/common/os/Thread.cxx b/common/os/Thread.cxx
index 7150a7f..f38a10b 100644
--- a/common/os/Thread.cxx
+++ b/common/os/Thread.cxx
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include <windows.h>
 #else
 #include <pthread.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
 #endif
 
 #include <rdr/Exception.h>
@@ -99,6 +100,36 @@
   return running;
 }
 
+size_t Thread::getSystemCPUCount()
+{
+#ifdef WIN32
+  SYSTEM_INFO si;
+  size_t count;
+  DWORD mask;
+
+  GetSystemInfo(&si);
+
+  count = 0;
+  for (mask = si.dwActiveProcessorMask;mask != 0;mask >>= 1) {
+    if (mask & 0x1)
+      count++;
+  }
+
+  if (count > si.dwNumberOfProcessors)
+    count = si.dwNumberOfProcessors;
+
+  return count;
+#else
+  long ret;
+
+  ret = sysconf(_SC_NPROCESSORS_ONLN);
+  if (ret == -1)
+    return 0;
+
+  return ret;
+#endif
+}
+
 #ifdef WIN32
 long unsigned __stdcall Thread::startRoutine(void* data)
 #else
diff --git a/common/os/Thread.h b/common/os/Thread.h
index 41d9486..1a9aa54 100644
--- a/common/os/Thread.h
+++ b/common/os/Thread.h
@@ -32,6 +32,9 @@
 
     bool isRunning();
 
+  public:
+    static size_t getSystemCPUCount();
+
   protected:
     virtual void worker() = 0;
 
diff --git a/common/rfb/DecodeManager.cxx b/common/rfb/DecodeManager.cxx
index ba2b2d2..724cf21 100644
--- a/common/rfb/DecodeManager.cxx
+++ b/common/rfb/DecodeManager.cxx
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 DecodeManager::DecodeManager(CConnection *conn) :
   conn(conn)
 {
-  int i;
+  size_t cpuCount;
 
   memset(decoders, 0, sizeof(decoders));
 
@@ -46,9 +46,15 @@
   producerCond = new os::Condition(queueMutex);
   consumerCond = new os::Condition(queueMutex);
 
-  // Just a single thread for now as we haven't sorted out the
-  // dependencies between rects
-  for (i = 0;i < 1;i++) {
+  cpuCount = os::Thread::getSystemCPUCount();
+  if (cpuCount == 0) {
+    vlog.error("Unable to determine the number of CPU cores on this system");
+    cpuCount = 1;
+  } else {
+    vlog.info("Detected %d CPU core(s) available for decoding", (int)cpuCount);
+  }
+
+  while (cpuCount--) {
     // Twice as many possible entries in the queue as there
     // are worker threads to make sure they don't stall
     freeBuffers.push_back(new rdr::MemOutStream());