To those who have spent countless hours trying to add a class by repeatedly clicking the "Adjust registration" button: Your answer has arrived.

The Class Grabber -- the brainchild of a group of six entrepreneurial students trying to make as much money as possible in three weeks -- is a computer program designed to automatically attempt to add a desired course to a schedule every 10 seconds.

The Penn State Registrar's online schedule of courses updates the list of available spots in each class at 7 a.m. However, just because the site claims a course is full at 7, doesn't mean there isn't an open spot at 7:05, or at any other point throughout the day.

While the schedule of courses remains the same, students are dropping and adding courses in real time at all hours. The Class Grabber's ability to continuously add a class means that the student can now pick up a class within seconds after it's dropped, without needing to see add or drop activity in real time.

"I think eLion does a terrible job of making it easy to get into classes," said group member Danny Roukos.

Roukos said if only a few people buy the Class Grabber, they will be able to get into almost any class they want. However, if several people buy it, he thinks it could make eLion reconsider its current interface.

"I definitely think there could be a lot better system," said Scott Markley, the creator of the program and a member of the group. Markley first designed a preliminary version of the program for a friend who needed to get into a class last year.

That friend, Ryan Mastowski (senior-civil engineering) said he used the program successfully again this semester, getting into an already-full spring 2007 course.

Mastowski said he would log into eLion and start the program when he left for classes in the morning and would turn it off when he returned at night. In three day's time, he had the class he wanted.

"I think it could save a lot of time for students who have hectic schedules," Mastowski said.

The usual eLion session expires after 10 minutes, but the Class Grabber's continual activity could theoretically keep a session open from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m. each day. Widespread use of the program to this extent would add a great deal of activity on eLion that could have potential system implications, said Ross Brode, assistant registrar for Systems Development and Network Support.

Carol Findley, assistant registrar for Systems Development and Network Support, said students using the program would be "bogging down the system, and students who are using eLion for other services may be affected."

The program was generated out of an assigned group project in a Technology in Entrepreneurship class taught by Matthew Poese. The final projects will be judged by the Bishoff Entrepreneur in Residence. The group has created a Web site, www.geturclass.com, and will be launching a marketing campaign to promote the program.

The CD program, which has a product registration key to resist duplication, is being sold for $10.