[Announce] WhileIdle application - Stealth run miners only when computer is idle

[SleepMachine]

Hello

I've created a C# program that can start any application after X amount of inactivity and end the application when the computer becomes active. With this you can automatically start mining when a computer is idle and stop mining when someone wants to use the computer. The started application (miner) can also be made invisible (it doesn't create a window in the taskbar or systray), if wanted.

I use this for running miners on computers belonging to my relatives without their computers becoming sluggish when they want to use them for something computationally intensive.

Uploaded by request. I hope this will be useful.

Current Version
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0.12 (Updated 2011-06-11)

DOWNLOAD LINK (includes source files)
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http://dl.dropbox.com/u/184100/WhileIdle.zip

Description
-----------
Launch any program after the computer has been idle for a specified amount of time.
The program is terminated when the computer stops being idle.


Usage
-----

Edit the WhileIdle.conf file to configure the parameters for the program.

WhileIdle.conf structure
Line 1: Full path to your executable file
Line 2: Optional command-line arguments for your executable
Line 3: Number of seconds the computer must have been idle before the executable launches
Line 4: Make launched executable invisible? Takes a 0 or 1 as value

Example WhileIdle.conf file:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
C:\BitcoinMiners\ufasoft\bitcoin-miner.exe
-o http://mining.bitcoin.cz:8332 -u YOURUSERNAME -p YOURPASSWORD -g no -v -a 60
300
1
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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[don]

Thank you!

I had some trouble getting it running with my miner at first but now it seems to work. If you got problems try installing the WhileIdle files in the same directory as the program you're trying to run with it.

[SleepMachine]

Glad to be of assistance   

[qberty]

I like the idea. Hopefully the members of this board won't bash this like they do any other closed software lol.

[Kluge]

I like the idea. Hopefully the members of this board won't bash this like they do any other closed software lol.

Source code is in .zip

[PiGames]

Pretty neat idea.
I might give this a try on the weekends when I use my main mining rig for games and such. Sometimes I forget to turn my miner back on when I'm done =\

[qberty]

I like the idea. Hopefully the members of this board won't bash this like they do any other closed software lol.

Source code is in .zip

That's not my point. This does give a nice touch to mining. You might want to use like.. events. So we can control it through a GUI perhaps.

[metastable]

I'm trying to streamline the process of copying over files to a computer and running it using a batch file, but for what ever reason WhileIdle.exe will not run unless done directly. Anyone know whats the cause?

Code:

@echo off
xcopy /s %~dp0bitcoinidle %appdata%\bitcoinidle
call %appdata%\bitcoinidle\whileidle.exe

All of the necessary files are within the bitcoinidle folder.

[darbsllim]

awesome, subscribed to follow progress.

[Slasklitta]

I registered only to tell you HOW AWESOME YOU ARE

I've been searching all day for stealth/hidden/invisible batch stuff. None worked... Lots of scripts and shit, but didnt work.

Yours is so easy and works PERFECT!

CREDITS TO YOU MAN!!!

[no_alone]

I made something the same...
With a GUI

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=9851.0

[cande]

Hi,

this is awesome! However, i want to run your whileidle as a service, and then it won't notice user actions. Have tried both running as current user or as SYSTEM with desktop interactions, does not help. And it doesn't matter what idletime i'm using either.

Do you have a resolution for that? perhaps if any user is using the system it takes down the miner?

[SleepMachine]

Oh, lots of replies here

I'm trying to streamline the process of copying over files to a computer and running it using a batch file, but for what ever reason WhileIdle.exe will not run unless done directly. Anyone know whats the cause?

I noticed a bug while installing this at a friends house that might cause this.
I think I forgot to set the programs "current directory"/"start from directory" to the directory of the application, or something like that, so if the program is launched from another directory, things might get wonky. At least I think that's the issue.

I registered only to tell you HOW AWESOME YOU ARE

I've been searching all day for stealth/hidden/invisible batch stuff. None worked... Lots of scripts and shit, but didnt work.

Yours is so easy and works PERFECT!

CREDITS TO YOU MAN!!!

THANKS ALOT 
I did the same as you until I finally thought... "What the fuck am I doing spending so much time on this? How hard can it be to program? I AM a programmer after all..."
I ended up spending more time googling a solution that suited me than I did programming this. Nuff said.

this is awesome! However, i want to run your whileidle as a service

As far as i know, normal applications cannot be run as services just like that. You will need to code it as a service, which is slightly different. I currently have no plans myself to do this, but someone else might be able to do that for you.



Finally i just wanted to say that i just coded this to suit my own needs, and posted it here in case someone else had the same needs. I currently have no plans to further develop this. (except perhaps fix that directory-bug for my friend). But hey, you never know. I might get bored one week-end and do some more additions.

[mattpker]

Thank you! This worked like a charm.

[iCEBREAKER]

Bounty 1

1 BTC for anyone who can tell me how to get rid of the WhileIdle window that appears when alt-tabbing between tasks.  OS is w7x64 pro.



Bounty 2

1 BTC for anyone who can help me get to Task Scheduler (or a system/registery hook) to launch WhileIdle on startup, without having an active directory user logged in.  I've tried all the obvious 'make-new-task' crap but it won't go.  Sucks because I'm supposed to be a guru, beyond such baby stuff.     Maybe I should just run it as a service?



Bounty 3

1 BTC for anyone that can help me get WhileIdle to run guiminer.  I've already tried putting the whileidle files in the guiminer\miners directory, and lots of other stuff.

[no_alone]

Bounty 1

1 BTC for anyone who can tell me how to get rid of the WhileIdle window that appears when alt-tabbing between tasks.  OS is w7x64 pro.

You can not see my program when alt+tab

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=9851

Bounty 2

1 BTC for anyone who can help me get to Task Scheduler (or a system/registery hook) to launch WhileIdle on startup, without having an active directory user logged in.  I've tried all the obvious 'make-new-task' crap but it won't go.  Sucks because I'm supposed to be a guru, beyond such baby stuff.    Maybe I should just run it as a service?

My program already do it

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=9851

Bounty 3

1 BTC for anyone that can help me get WhileIdle to run guiminer.  I've already tried putting the whileidle files in the guiminer\miners directory, and lots of other stuff.

My program can run guiminer easily
http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=9851

Please 3 BTC to  1GjpJnLU8zdfEHW7FoCx2UUosJgc9prXN4


[

[SleepMachine]

Bounty 1

1 BTC for anyone who can tell me how to get rid of the WhileIdle window that appears when alt-tabbing between tasks.  OS is w7x64 pro.



Bounty 2

1 BTC for anyone who can help me get to Task Scheduler (or a system/registery hook) to launch WhileIdle on startup, without having an active directory user logged in.  I've tried all the obvious 'make-new-task' crap but it won't go.  Sucks because I'm supposed to be a guru, beyond such baby stuff.    Maybe I should just run it as a service?



Bounty 3

1 BTC for anyone that can help me get WhileIdle to run guiminer.  I've already tried putting the whileidle files in the guiminer\miners directory, and lots of other stuff.

I decided to make an update after all. (Bountys changes everything!)
The link in the first post of this thread has been updated to the new version.

The new version fixes Bounty 1.

Regarding Bounty 2, i could release a version that works as a service, but I'll need a little time to code this.
Edit: no_alones program does not run as a service, according to a poster in his thread.

Bounty 3: There shouldn't be any problems launching guiminer with WhileIdle. I've tried it myself. However, i wouldn't recommend it because guiminer in turn launches miners and when WhileIdle terminates guiminer, the miners started by guiminer will not terminate. This is also true with no_alones program, regardless of what he says. If you read the thread about his program, you can see it has the same issues.

This version should also fix the issue that metastable had.  

[SchizophrenicX]

try kill process tree? I don't know how to code it though but I think if I'm right it'd kill the poclbm along with it (or other miners)

[SleepMachine]

try kill process tree? I don't know how to code it though but I think if I'm right it'd kill the poclbm along with it (or other miners)

Thanks, i didn't really think of that! I was trying to gracefully end the process instead of killing it, but this does the trick also.
I just implemented this and released a new version 0.12
This fixes bounty 3!

[SleepMachine]

Bounty 3

1 BTC for anyone that can help me get WhileIdle to run guiminer.  I've already tried putting the whileidle files in the guiminer\miners directory, and lots of other stuff.

To use guiminer, unzip the new version 0.12 into folder C:\BitcoinMiners and just run WhileIdle.exe .The included conf-file is set to use that directory and the now included guiminer.