Help...How to maximize client run-time for this

[ZapZilla]

I have 10 mid pentium level computers set up in my wife's Kindergarten classroom that run various kinder programs, as well as RC5, in Win98.

She will run one program on all computers for a week or two and then switch to a different program for the next few weeks.

The K programs are run 24/7 so that my wife (who is nearly computer illiterate) doesn't have to take the time to start up programs on 10 computers, so that the kids can just sit down and use the program with no fuss. And I only stop by my wife's class about once a week.

When these K programs are running, RC5's keyrate is crap.

She does not want to be hassled with exiting the K programs at the end of the schoolday so that RC5 can run 100%, because then she would have to start up the programs on 10 computers in the morning and does'nt want to do that.

The problem: How can I get the K programs to automatically pause or exit at the end of schooldays and then restart in the mornings to allow RC5 exclusive CPU time?

If this could be done, these computers could then run all night weekdays, and 24/2 on weekends, greatly increasing my keyrate.

All the computers are networked (though each computer is running its own program--not mapped to another PC), and I could switch to Win2000.

????

 

[sciencewhiz]

You could start them with Task scheduler every morning, but I don't know what you could do to stop the program.

 

[Engine]

I don't know how to shut them down, but you could start them every morning by simply setting up a scheduled task to start the programs early in the morning.

If you can't figure out how to shut it down you could at least give dnetc normal priority at night. Just setup a scheduled task to run "dnetc -priority 9" at night, then "dnetc -priority 0" in the morning.

 

[ZapZilla]

Is there some way to shut down the computer, thus terminating the K programs, at a specific time and day?

If so, could I immediately restart the computer, and use the task schedualer to restart the K programs when desired?

 

[ZapZilla]

Also when these K programs run, they seem to run like old DOS programs, in that they take up the entire screen and can't be minimized, and animations keep running the whole time.

So would setting RC5 priority to 9 help if if the K programs run animations all the time?

 

[ZapZilla]

I just thought of the RC5 Dnetc blank screen "screen saver", I'll give that a try Friday after work and see what happens.

 

[Engine]

The difference with setting the priority to nine would be that the client wouldn't give up all of the cpu time. That way you would at least be getting half the cpu time while those programs ran at night, instead of none.

 

[Russ]

Zap,

Can you remote in and control the herd from a single machine?

Russ, NCNE

 

[BurntKooshie]

In the task manager, the task that is set to run also has the option under "settings" which can be checked to "stop the task if it runs for X hour(s) or X minute(s)".

Set the kindegarden programs to start every weekeday at a certain time, then have it stop the task after X many hours and X many minutes (which would be the end of the day I presume). Let RC5 run when it loads

Would this work?

 

[ZapZilla]

Russ, I don't have access/password to remote.

The elementary school is part of a district WAN, and the student records are accessed by secure WinNT PC workstations at each school.

Before the Y2K thang, I could see/access my PCs on the WAN/LAN, however, during the district's Y2K upgrade, security was tightened up too, and I can no longer see any computers/printers on the WAN/LAN without a password, which I can't get. So I can't map to any of my PCs or remote anything as a result. Thus, all the clients are running in isolation.

They can only access the internet, filtered through SurfWatch (which is a bummer when I follow some of the links that are posted in the forums, but are blocked).

I even tried running Win2000 on one of 'em to see if I could pierce the veil, but I could not.

 

[ZapZilla]

BurntKooshie: I'll give it a try on Friday afternoon, and let you know!

 

[Engineer]

Zapzilla,

If it is a DOS based program running in Windows, you can right click on the program and select the misc. tab...There, you can set the IDLE SENSITIVITY slider to low, therefore giving the rest of the system much more CPU resources..

I had a DOS based program that I had to run on a laptop, and I would often forget it overnight...It would take 95% CPU resources...I lowered the Sensivity to LOW and it now runs fine with 2 to 3% CPU resources...

Good Luck!

 

[Ken g6]

If the programs are Windows-based, you could use Task Scheduler and a little program called PrcView to stop them. Just put in:

c:\windows\COMMAND.COM /c echo y | pv.exe -k [programname]

in Task Scheduler to kill the desired program automatically.
I use this to kill Netscape so I don't stay on the forums all night.

If it's DOS based, do as Engineer (you look so much like Ray...) said.