It would be very easy to do. All someone would have to do is crunch a WU to 99%, pause it, kill the console, then copy the data folder to another part of the hard drive. Then, resume the work on the WU and complete it and send it in. Then, instead of sending for a new WU, place the data folder with the 99% completed WU back into the [email protected] directory and start the client back up. Then, 10 minutes later, you have yet another WU finished, then repeat the process.
Does [email protected] have safeguards in place to prevent that sort of thing. They tried to stop the cheating with Seti and it didn't work.
but for myself, i see no reason to cheat. if i could somehow enhance production, i'd welcome it. a tweaked kernel, and minimalist os that supercharges folding would be great. the gromacs wu's using sse optimizations adds up to a 20% sped boost, so there is likely to be further enhancements in that area. there is a place where real work must be done, and real results must be achieved, and this won't come by cheating. there usually is a certain degree of cheating that parallels real efforts. some follow in the motions of others, and capitalize on it- and it's bs. stock market is a good analogy for this behavior.