Folding from a login screen?

Ok, I have the potential to add quite a number of XP machine to my account. Problem is that for the majority of the day these machines are just sitting waiting for someone to log on. My question is: How can I get these machines to crunch data while sitting on the login screen? Once I have a definate answer to this problem I can take this up with my network admin person. Even though I have administrative privaledges I need to run this by the powers that be.

Appreciate any help.

PS. We are talking about roughly 50 P4's here. Not a small number.

 

Locking the computers is not an option since people will come in and out + expect to be able to use the computer.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the help. I will keep you updated as to what happens. Only problem I can see is that the network manager might not want me to start messing around in the registry. I will try my best though. After all, I do help maintain the network + so should hopefully be able to show them it is a worthwhile cause.

 

Thanks everyone. I have tested the Folding@home solution as listed on their web site on my VPC running XP. Now that I understand how it works I can now go to the relevant people + run it past them. I'll keep you posted over the next week or so.

 

Ok, another quick question. Ok, so I know how to make Folding work while sitting at a login screen. However, I dont want the folding process showing. I want a black / blank screen. How can I do this? I am not interested in seeing the progress.

 

No, these computers are running XP (using the folding instructions for running from a login screen - http://folding.stanford.edu/faq.html#run.nobody). Is there a setting for this? If I could say to the network admin person that they will just sit on a blank screen it will be better. I dont want folding to be too intrusive.

On a separate note, I have managed to add another 2 computer today. They should start to contribute in the next few days.

 

Sorry to bother everyone on this, but, does anyone know how to set the Windows screensaver to run using a blank screen? I have no problem getting folding to run from the login screen but I dont want folding showing. I need a blank screen showing. Until I can do this I cant go to the network manager to discuss the possibility. The other possibilitity is to use the energy savings somehow to cut the monitor off. Any ideas?

 

That would be an acceptable solution. However, how can you set the windows registry so that the screen turns off at the login screen but not when you have logged in? The instructions for setting up folding (by changing the registry) only apply to the login screen. I need something similar to that. It would just annoy people if they kept having their screens turned off after 1 or 2 mins.

 

I am sure there is a way. I just dont know where to look for information on editing the windows registry. I am Mac person mainly. The instructions on the folding website (for setting up login screen processing) only seem to apply to the login screen. I need to find the power settings that only apply to that situation again. This would sort it out for me.

Appreciate anyone with ideas. I will be testing this solution under VPC before I take a complete solution to my network manager. Cheers

 

Dont think that will work. The XP preferences only apply when you have logged in. I need the registry settings so that they preferences apply to the whole system (well, at least where the login screen is concerned). I will give it a go though.