I can start the wallet app - pluscoin.qt and use the console in that and start mining with the wallet, yet I can also double click the Runme.bat which starts a command box and connects to something.
Is there any reason to run the run bat? I downloaded pcminer, ccminer and QT. So so far it looks like I can mine with three different programs?
The runme.bat is used for one of the miner programs you should choose which one to use and it works with HappyPool. The pluscoin-qt.exe program is the wallet program which also mines independently and does not use HappyPool. You can use both perhaps all three at once but I think this would bog down a laptop or desktop pc and not be what you want. I recommend using HappyPool and CPUMiner that is what I am using now. But you could also use HappyPool and ccminer also as the instructions say on HappyPool's getting started page. Just would pick one and go with it, would not just use the pluscoin.qt wallet to mine though it doesn't give results incrementally like the mining pool does. I like to see the coins add up during the day instead of waiting indefinitely.
[i[If I use pcminer, or another mining program, would I still have to pay happy fees? This part is confusing.
Yes a 2% fee on the coins mined for the privelege of watching your coin count add up during the day. This is instead of waiting and wondering what you have when the pluscoin.qt program finally gives some results some unknown time in the future.
I just now clicked on ccminer and see no way to turn it off either. It popped a command box then went away.
I don't see anything in task manager or anywhere else.
I have a 3rd party program that brings up all active tasks on the computer, I may try that next.
That sounds like your antivirus or spyware programs are stopping the program. The box doesn't go away in my pc. Check your software on how to exclude programs from that. It may be different for each program. See if you can disable the protection programs for 10min sometimes you can right click the taskbar icon to disable temporarily. Then run the batch file again and if it remains then you need to tell your system to not stop the ccminer.
Another thing to check out is which version of the miner did you download. There is one for a x64 "64-bit" operating system and one for a x86 "32-bit" operating system. Try downloading the other one maybe your processor or operating system is not designed for the 64-bit version. I think either should work fine for our purposes here. You should be able to run the 32-bit version on any PC.
Finally sometimes the runme.bat file has a seperate one for AMD processors. If you have an Intel machine try to use the one that doesn't have AMD on it for compatability. The AMD processors have an integrated video GPU processor in them that some mining programs can use to get an extra boost in performance.
Have you looked at QT settings under proxy and know anything about tor? Would this speed things up?
Tor is what is called an onion router it sends your data through layers of servers to try to make your online activities anonymous. Sort of like layers of an onion thus the logo. This adds delays and latency to communications I do not see any benefit to speeding up mining coins. Using these programs also can flag you on your service provider to watch your online activity more closely. I don't use it and don't need to. People use it to hide and it just adds delays to this task and doesn't benefit anything. Tor might be useful if your were transacting coins concerning things you wouldn't want others to know of or be on the news about someday.
When I do input to QT concole, what is the -1 after the 'n' number signify. What does it mean?
It must be how the program was made, just type it in for now is my best suggestion. Perhaps later someone can provide additional info. If you use one of the mining programs and HappyPool you won't have to use that command anyhow just setup your batch file and click to run it.
You said runs all night? What number did you input to do that?
I use the command generate 100000 -1 just picked a large number and it works. But I recommend using the miner and HappyPool so you can see the coins count updating.
