Cool Application of Week - Using the Computer to Help Others

CAW this week is going to focus on using your computer's idle time.

So what is idle time in a computer, you ask? It's when you are not typing, viewing or when the computer is in general not being used, but is running. Here in my office and lab, we have several computers that run 24/7, compiling data for business, but some of the time they crunch away at protein folding. Distributed projects like folding@home work with your idle computer time and process data to find why proteins fold and how, when they fold wrong, that can affect your body.

There are many Distributed Projects, from SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) to finding gravitational waves to crazy math points to calculating PI. So if you have a computer running anyway, why not put it to good use. Finding ET or maybe the cure for Cancer is just another way to help each other use something going unused.

OK, on to another cool application already in your computer: msinfo32.exe. This handy tool will tell you just about anything inside your computer. From the start menu, hit "run," and then "msinfo32.exe," and hit the return key.

What's nice about the program is you can export the information, so others can help you out when things aren't running correctly.

OK, that's it for CAW this week. In the words of Flynn (from TRON), greetings, programs. Have a safe week to come, and crunch away.