UD Tweaker, version 1.3.0.1 (release Mar 11, 2005)

This program was designed to be used with the United Devices grid.org Agent, which works on solving the cure for cancer. I have been running the Agent for a little bit now, and there have been a few features that many people always ask for. These features are things that the UD Agent does not currently make possible, but are technically not very hard to do. My program also works great with the IBM World Community Grid projects!

This neat program lets you do four main things:

1. It lets you "cache" multiple workunits ahead of time, which is a feature that is similar to that already offered by UD Monitor, but I feel that my program implements it better, because it does not require multiple copies of the Agent. The Agent will still try to connect to the server after every workunit is finished, but even if your network is down, the Agent will still be able to continue working on the background.
2. Multiple-processor support. If you are running Windows 2000 and have more than one processor, then you can use this feature to let the Agent run up to two workunits simultaneously. Note that this feature will not work on Windows95 or Windows 98 or Windows Me because they do not support multiple processors. This feature works by tricking the Agent into running two copies of the LigandFit program at once, each with a different workunit. Please note that the Agent will still only display the progress and graphics from one of the LigandFits, but there are actually TWO running. Also remember that this only supports up to two processors only.
3. Disable automatic snooze-mode for laptops. The Agent automatically goes into smooze mode when your power goes unplugged, because it lets your battery last longer. Also, laptop batteries are designed to have minimal load and that's why the laptops put the CPUs into lower modes and such. When you draw too much power from them, they won't operate correctly in the long term. Additionally, laptops aren't nearly as fast when they're not plugged in. However, some times I want to run the Agent even when I am on battery. This feature makes the Agent thinks it is still plugged on.
4. Disable workunit timeout for slow computers. If your computer takes too long to finish a workunit, the Agent will sometimes abort it before it completes fully. Even though UD still gives you full points and credit for the partially finished workunit, it would be nice to be able to finish the workunit all the way. This feature is the newest part of my program, so it still may be a little buggy. Let me know if it works or doesn't for you.

As you might suspect, this program is not guaranteed to work correctly, but it seems to work alright for me and my friends.

If you think you are ready to download my program, you can get it here in zip format (58KB).

Remember that you should try not to be too excessive and get too many workunits. Although UD Tweaker lets you go up to 10 workunits, you probably don't really want more than 2 or 3. The more you get, the longer it will take to connect and more likely that your Agent will fail to respond. Also, it is more likely that your Agent will not be able to finish all of them before the are stale. It could also become more likely that your workunits will be wasted if THINK crashes in the middle of one, since the Agent tries to eagerly delete lots of files when a crash occurs.

Here is more talk about my program on the UD grid.org message board.

Come back later for more programs when I finish them. Send me any ideas or suggestions you have! mailto:blakenyc77@hotmail.com

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