Join the World Community Grid

This post was published 6 years 7 months 8 days ago. Therefore, it may well be out of date. Do not reply on the contents of this post being accurate.

If you have a Windows or Linux machine put its idle time to good use by joining The World Community Grid, a not-for-profit endeavor. Linking the unused processing power of many individual computers creates a large system with massive computational power that far surpasses the power of a handful of supercomputers.

“In 2003, with grid computing, in less than three months scientists identified 44 potential treatments to fight the deadly smallpox disease. Without the grid, the work would have taken more than one year to complete.”

It’s very easy to take part:

1. visit www.worldcommunitygrid.org
2. Windows users download and “double-click” the software set-up file (Linux intructions)

Once you’ve installed the software (they call it the agent) that’s it, there’s nothing else to do. The software runs only when your computer is on. It will automatically start when you start your computer and will run when your computer is idle. The more your computer is on, the more processing happens. The software doesn’t need to be connected to the Internet to work its task, but once finished, it needs to reconnect to the Internet to return data it has finished working on and to get a new task.While your grid agent is crunching numbers, you’re earning points! On the Global Statistics page, you can track your participation, and watch your points accumulate either as an individual or as part of a team.

“”At any given time, only a fraction of the processing power of the world’s estimated 650 million personal computers is in use.”

Take 5 minutes to check it out and if you like the look take another 5 minutes and join in.