Thanks Mike. If I have to go with the dedicated computer, that is the way I will go. I posted on the Xantrex board several months ago, and I am afraid you are correct (the answer is probably "not at this time"
).
As I understand, stuff in the STARTUP folder is only executed when that user actually logs on. So, if the computer goes off for whatever reason (reboot, power, Murphy's law, or whatever), unless a user physically logs onto the computer it boots and just sits at a startup screen (stuff in startup folder is not executing yet). If the user logs off, the programs that user was running terminate (GT-View does prompt to save the log files in that case)... A service installation allows stuff to run whenever the computer is booted, but nobody is logged in. Much better from a security standpoint too (no unattended computer logged into a network).