"Lock Computer" stops program from running

[cjernigan]

Here is the situation:

User has a program that does several hours worth of number crunching. Not wanting to sit and wait for numbers to be crunched the user goes home and comes back several hours later to obtain the results. The user had done this previously, but came back to find that the cleaning folks (?) had been messing with his computer while he was away. After this incident I suggested the "CTRL-ALT-DEL" "Lock Computer" option. The user tried this, however, when he returned, he discovered that the program had stopped immediately after locking the computer and resumed the calculation immediately after unlocking.

XP Pro, P-IV 2GHz, 512MB RAM.

Suggestions?

 

[smah]

This shouldn't happen with fast user switching enabled, but I'm not sure about this behavior if it's disabled. In a domain environment, fast user switching is disabled, so could that be your situation?

 

[bcastner]

It might be worthwhile considering running the program as a service.

http://www.firedaemon.com

Firedaemon allows many programs to be mounted as a service. The trial version is limited to one program, but otherwise is the same as the full version that has no program limits.

 

[cjernigan]

I will look into both solutions and report back. Thanks for your replies.

 

[linney]

Would a Screen Saver password serve any use in this situation? I include the following proviso.

228160 - Screen Saver Is Not Password Protected If Started Manually

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;228160&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

815424 - Screen Saver Is Not Password-Protected When You Apply the "Password Protect the Screen Saver" Group Policy Setting

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;815424&FR=1&PA=1&SD=HSCH

 

[cjernigan]

As a follow up to this problem.

Essentially, the user was mistaken. The user's program was crashing, rather than XP having anything to do with the crash.

Thanks for your help.

 

[bcastner]

cjernigan,

You still might recommend running the program as a service. It provides several benefits, including the fact that a service has greater crash protection than a non-SYSTEM process.

Try FireDaemon at

http://www.firedaemon.com