Preferences in BOINC Version 6

Future BOINC Version The information on this page refers to a future BOINC version (BOINC 6). It does not apply to current versions.

You can specify preferences that limit when and how BOINC uses your computers. There are two kinds of preferences:

General preferences

These apply to all projects.
Example: whether BOINC should compute while you're at your computer.

Project preferences

These apply only to one project.
Example: the color scheme used in the SETI@home screensaver.

Changing Preferences

There are several ways to set and change your preferences. They all alter the same store of preferences. Here's how they work; you can decide which is best for you.

On the web

You can edit preferences on the web site of any project in which you participate. If you do this, then:

• The changes will take effect on all the computers attached to that accounts.
• The changes will take effect on a given computer the next time that computer contacts the project's server. This typically happens automatically every few hours. You can do it manually by selecting the project in the BOINC Manager (Advanced View) and clicking Update.

In the BOINC Manager

You can edit general preferences using a dialog in the BOINC manager. Use the Advanced/Preferences menu item in the Advanced View, or the Preferences button in the Simple View. These bring up different dialogs - the Advanced version displays more preferences. If you use this approach, then:

• Changes will take effect immediately upon clicking OK in the dialog.
• Changes are sent back to all projects the computer is attached to.
• Changes cascade back to other computers

Editing preferences on the web

Click on 'Your account', then 'View or edit general preferences' (Note: these links may be different on some projects. For example, on Climateprediction.net you must click 'My CPDN', then 'BOINC CPDN', then 'Your account', and 'View or edit general preferences'.) This shows you the preferences. If you want to change anything, click on 'Edit preferences'. When you change your preferences on the web, the changes won't take effect immediately on your computer; they'll take effect the next time your computer connects to the project's server. If you want this to happen immediately, bring up the BOINC Manager on your computer, select the project, and click 'Update'. If you're running BOINC on several computers, preference changes will eventually propagate to all of them.

If you participate in multiple BOINC projects?, your global preferences are shared between them.

Some account managers also provide a web-based interface for editing preferences.

Location-specific preferences

If you have computers at several locations (e.g. home, work or school) you may want to use different preferences for different locations. The preferences editing system lets you create (or delete) separate preferences for home, work, school, or anywhere else. You can also use the location system to group computers using the same preferences. Locations can have any name you want.

Each computer attached to your account has a location. To view this, go to the project's web site. A change to a computer's location will take effect only when that computer contacts the server; you can make this happen immediately using the BOINC Manager's Update command.

If a computer has its location set to 'home' (for example), and you've defined separate preferences for home, it will use those preferences. Otherwise it will use your default preferences.

Your account has a 'default location'. New computers attaching to your account will be given the default location. The default location is part of your project preferences, so to change it, edit your project preferences.

General preferences

PrefsReference