A new version of the World Community Grid - BOINC software is available for beta testing. Please install and provide feedback. THANKS!

It is available at http://boincdl.ssl.berkeley.edu/dl/wcg_boinc_6.2.25_windows_intelx86.exe

Major Changes since version 5.10.45

• By default, the software is installed as a service and the research applications run under a unprivileged user 'boinc_project'. This increases the security for the user running the software.
  
• There several improvements to eliminate problems running the software with Vista
  
• The screen saver displays the graphics even if the screen saver has the password protected box checked
  
• A new preference is available to allow you to set the max percent of available processors to use. This field defaults to 100%. The number of processors used is the lessor of either this new value or the value of 'max number of processors' previously set on the device profile.
  
• The latest version of libCurl is being used. We would appreciate it if members who have had to <force_auth> in the cc_config.xml could try the new version and remove the <force_auth> tag from their cc_config.xml file. Please let us know if it properly identified the type of proxy and ran correctly without this tag.
  
• The latest version of OpenSSL is being used.
  
• By default, only the user installing the software will be able to run the BOINC manager and thus control the agent but the core client (and therefore research applications) will run under the 'boinc_project' id.

More information is available at: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Release_Notes

Major changes since version 5.10.45 specific to World Community Grid

• A message is displayed if you are already connected to World Community Grid and you attempt to 'Add Project'. This is intended to help users understand the difference between joining a different BOINC project vs changing their participation for the projects available at World Community Grid.
  
• The research applications will not start running until two minutes after BOINC has started. This will help reduce contention for resource when a computer is being started.
  
• Members can now set the maximum resource consumption allowed by the graphics. This field is set for a specific device profile http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/ms/device/viewProfiles.do. The graphics will use at most X% of cpu time or run at a rate of at most Y frames per second. By default the graphics use at most 5% of cpu time and 7 frames per second.
  
• If the user installing the software is a new user or if they have never modified the cc_config.xml, then:
  
  • The software will use www.ibm.com in order to check if the BOINC client is connected to the internet. During the initial connection process, it will suggest that if the client cannot connect to the project or to ibm.com, then it will provide a list of things to check
    
  • The BOINC software will now contact World Community Grid to find out if a new version is available rather than contacting the BOINC servers. This gives us control of when the message about a new version being available appears on members messages log.

Known Issues

• If you exit the BOINC manager from the system tray, it will not stop BOINC from running. This is a change due to the fact that by default, the core client runs as a service. However, this is a usability problem. We will need to add a dialogue that asks the user if they want to stop BOINC from running completely or if they just want to close the manager.
  
• Preference for auto-launch the BOINC manager on startup not offered and manager always set to startup

edit - Please note that work run during this beta test will not earn credit towards the beta test badge - you will receive normal credit towards the research projects.