While main PC less I discovered a new trick

I have a usb memory stick and I copied the whole of the WorldCommunityGrid folder contents from Program Files on my duff PC's C Drive.

Fitting the USB Stick to some poor unsuspecting PC without the agent installed. Double click on UD.exe on the memory stick and Bob's your Uncle crunching again The PC I had attached it to didn't have an Internet connection so the agent ran to completion of the Work Unit and then paused. Removing the stick and plugging it back into a currently crunching PC, stop the existing agents run and double click the UD.exe on the stick and it happily uploads the WU to the WCG and collects a new one into the stick. Plugging USB memory stick back into a PC, crunching again. Not forgetting to start the internet donor PC's WCG agent back up.

I haven't lost as much crunching time this way - It's a shame I had never tried it before.

Just thought I should let you know of my little experiments success, you never know when this situation may come in handy.

No .ini files and no registry setting changes required

This might be a way to run solid state, roll on the arrival of a Linux Agent

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Date....................Runtime...................Daily Points.......Daily Results.........Place
09/09/2005..... 1:030:04:15:42.......... 238,605............. 1,280................. #5
09/08/2005..... 1:027:08:07:31.......... 240,057............. 1,425................. #5
09/07/2005..... 1:023:04:51:56.......... 237,339............. 1,349................. #5
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Stats-Image Generator by WCG Member Börni

allow me to share this little trick i use to make installation on a new pc quicker (and a bit stealthier). if there are any questions, have a cup of coffee in my signature box

i downloaded the install program to a usb memory stick.

this makes things faster because you don't have to download the program from the website. as soon as the program boots and you log in, the program will grab any updates as well as the first workunit.

the stealthier part took a bit more work.

one of the big hurdles for people having the program running has always been the screen saver and the task bar icon.

for some reason the default has the screen saver being set. if you open the screen saver control panel before you start the installation program it won't set the screen saver to the wcg screen saver. part one accomplished.

as for the task bar icon at first i would go through the steps of setting the taskbar properties to have the icon always hidden (obviously in later version of windoze that allow this) that worked for a while until people started playing around and accidently found it. What changed everything was a simple bit of script writing by our own wilsondr. his wonderful script and a couple of small program files allow you to run the wcg as a service on windoze 2000 and xp. (the geekier amongst us should really pay atte...o his posts on the matter) i loaded the needed files onto the usb memory stick and made several copies of his script - each one with a different drive letter assigned to the files locations. part two accomplished.



now when i install on a new computer it goes like this:

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insert usb memory stick

open screen saver control panel

install wcg program

register program

close screen saver control panel

run the script for whichever drive letter the usb stick was assigned

unplug the usb memory stick

total time - usually less than three minutes

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only problem is that with the program running as a service you can't click on the icon to see what progress is being made. you simply have to trust that it works and check out your stats as the points roll in.

the advantage to this is that programs running as services continue to run as long as the machine is on, no matter who is logged on or if no one is logged on

many thanks to wilsondr for his great script it works great!

i would post the actual files and scripts to a server, but i'm afraid some of our more devious members would use them to ambush friends and others pc's without their knowledge and that would be wrong (it would be especially tempting at a school or university with so many computers sitting around labs not doing anything)

My M25 Days are over (For the moment).
I start a new Job on the 19th which is a tad closer to home.

Normal Service will be resumed late on the 18th

Just don't go through 50 Million while I'm away

Keep posting and keep on crunching

Dave

i want to clarify my earlier post.

perhaps my sense of humor doesn't come across well in the forums. i was not suggesting someone actually hijack a computer without permission. it was intended to be humorous.

i was trying to show how doing a couple of things would help you keep the wcg crunching on an authorized computer by keeping things hidden (out of sight, out of mind). and how to speed up the process of installing the program (before your friend has a chance to change his/her mind).

having lost half my machines due to IT ignorance, i would be the perfect candidate to hijack the new machines, but as my daily point score shows, i didn't do that nor would i condone it.

i hope this helps clear my (inadvertantly and selfimposed) sullied reputation with my MOT friends. What we do together should never be disparaged because what we do together we do for the world.