Method of using scavenger grids in a network of virtualized computers

A system of using idle computer cycles through a virtualization client over a distributed network, comprising:

• an information handling system maintaining a virtualization client that hosts at least one virtual machine;
• a central server communicatively coupled to the information handling system via a network, the central server operable to assign a task stored in a virtual disk file to the at least one virtual machine;
• and
• the virtual disk file further including an operating system and application-specific program that operably runs on the at least one virtual machine to perform the task during idle computer cycles of the information handling system.

An information handling system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory coupled to the processor;
• a communication controller communicatively coupling the processor and the memory to a distributed network;
• a virtualization client communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory and the network;
• the virtualization client operable to monitor the activity of the processor for idle computer cycles;
• the virtualization client operable to host one or more virtual machines;
• and
• each virtual machine operably creating a standard virtualized hardware in the information handling system such that an operating system and application specific program runs on the virtual machine, wherein the operating system and application specific program are part of a virtual disk file received via the network that performs a task during the idle computing cycles of the information handling system.