Hey PPT! As a newfound PC enthusiast, I found my computer sitting idle quite a bit. Looking at PPT, I know we have quite a few computers around.
Folding@Home is Stanford sponsored effort for disease research. But running a simple piece of software while you leave your computer idle, you contribute your computing power to Folding@Home which helps to simulate the protein folding. Improperly folded proteins can lead to diseases including "Alzheimer's, Mad Cow (BSE), CJD, ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's disease, and many Cancers and cancer-related syndromes."
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Folding@Home works on all operating systems (Windows, OS X and lower, and Linux) and utilizes your system's CPU. It is available to download
here and comes in a command prompt and system tray version. I don't recommend the command prompt version if you don't know your way around the command prompt.
Folding@Home can even run on the PS3.
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I use Folding@Home everyday and can guarantee the safety of the download as well as the 4141610 people who actively run the program. Some of the big teams include
Google,
Maximum PC, and many more.
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Even without a powerful computer YOU can make a difference. PPT could even start a
team which would tally the "points" generated by all the members.
If you have a computer that stands idle, Folding@Home is a great way to put it to work for a great cause.