BOINC 6.2 will install as a service by default. This service install is called Protected Application Execution in the Advanced option in the BOINC installer. At the moment you have the choice to install in compatibility mode in Windows, to make sure that the graphics of projects that still use older graphics solutions work in BOINC 6.

It is planned to remove this option once all projects have BOINC 6 compliant graphics. Then BOINC will only install as a service.

Note: From BOINC 6.4 and above the default installation modus will not be the protected application execution mode. BOINC will also have an option to stop the running service when exiting BOINC Manager and remember to do so each time thereafter.

The Progress Through Processors version 6.8 does install as as service by default.

For lots of information on this new way of installing and running BOINC, please look at the Big BOINC 6 Answer Thread and the How to Install BOINC 6 as a service walkthrough. These FAQs come with screen shots and all, to make sure you and it are on the same page.

Frequently asked on these forums:

What is a service install?
With a program installed as a service under Windows, it's meant that this program starts before the Windows logon and run independent of whomever is logged in.

Plenty of parts of Windows itself start as a service and run unnoticed in the background. This same method is used for BOINC. You don't need to run BOINC Manager all the time either when running as a service. The client will chug on without the graphical user interface, without problems. In this way you can hide it from view from the other users on your PC. (Unless they check Task Manager and see it running...)

You can check what else starts as a service in the services control applet at Start->Run, type services.msc and clicking OK. Don't change the startup function of anything here unless you know what you are doing.


Why use the service install under Windows by default?
For added protection. In the protected mode, project applications will run under an unprivileged account, so that they cannot access other files on your computer. This was also added for additional protection when running BOINC under Windows Vista with the UAC on.

So how do I shut BOINC 6 down now? Exiting BOINC Manager, BOINC and the applications keep on running! And how do I get it running afterwards?
There are a couple of ways to shut down the service.
The easiest method to shut down BOINC and get it running again is to go through BOINC Manager->Advanced view->Advanced->Shut down connected client. This will shut down the service. Next you go File->Exit to close down BOINC Manager.

Since BOINC 6.6 there is an exit dialog in BOINC Manager that can shut down the running client and science applications. Just follow BOINC Manager->Advanced view->File->Exit, on the exit dialog check "Stop running science applications when exiting the Manager" and click OK. That will stop the client (boinc.exe) as well as BOINC Manager and all the science apps.

To start BOINC back up, go Start->Programs->BOINC->BOINC Manager. This will start up BOINC Manager, which in turn starts the service.

When I ran BOINC in XP as a service, it would detect the GPU. Now I have Windows Vista or Windows 7, when BOINC is installed as a service it won't detect the GPU. When will you fix that?
It is not something for BOINC to fix. This is a Microsoft security feature, where it stops your user account from running in the same session as your drivers and services are run from.

If it has to be fixed, it will have to come from Microsoft, or the GPU driver manufacturers have to find a way to run their drivers without using them as a service installation.

There's a document on this at Session 0 isolation (Word document, can be loaded in Open Office Writer, not in Wordpad).

An excerpt:
In Microsoft® Windows® XP, Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003, and earlier versions of the Windows operating system, all services run in the same session as the first user who logs on to the console. This session is called Session 0. Running services and user applications together in Session 0 poses a security risk because services run at elevated privilege and therefore are targets for malicious agents who are looking for a way to elevate their own privilege level.

The Microsoft Windows Vista™ operating system mitigates this security risk by isolating services in Session 0 and making Session 0 noninteractive. In Windows Vista, only system processes and services run in Session 0. The first user logs on to Session 1, and subsequent users log on to subsequent sessions. This means that services never run in the same session as users’ applications and are therefore protected from attacks that originate in application code.

What Is Affected
Any applications or drivers that are installed as a service are affected by the following implications. Some drivers are loaded within operating system services or processes that are running in Session 0, and those drivers are also affected by the implications of the Session 0 changes.

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