Help treat diseases with your computer

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The discussion centers around the benefits of participating in distributed computing projects aimed at medical research, specifically for treating and curing diseases. Participants can install software on their computers that utilizes spare CPU power for calculations in various research areas, such as drug discovery, protein folding, and genome studies. Notable projects mentioned include Find-a-Drug, Folding @ Home, and the Genome project, each focusing on different aspects of medical research.Users express enthusiasm for contributing to these projects, highlighting that they do not significantly impact computer performance. Some participants have set up teams for collaborative efforts, encouraging others to join. Concerns about software causing overheating or performance issues are raised, with suggestions for troubleshooting. Additionally, there are discussions about the credibility and security of these programs, with reassurances that they are developed by reputable organizations.The conversation also touches on the potential for significant contributions from the forum's members if more individuals participate in these initiatives, emphasizing the collective impact of distributed computing on advancing medical research.
  • #31
You just have to delete the shortcut in the start up menu.
 
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  • #32
It isn't in my startup menu
 
  • #33
Ki Man said:
It isn't in my startup menu

Uninstall it, and when re-installing, tell it to not load on startup.
 
  • #34
But isn't these programs working exactely like wiruses and trojans ?

If you install a trojan with open eyes as it claim to fight AIDS, which guarantee do you have for that your newly installed trojan is as friendly as it claim to be ?

What is the argument to claim that using home computers in this way for a kind of distributed computing does have much reasonable ideas behind it, except for some project to see if it can work, and some hackers as well, to see if ddos attack etc can work.

Is it likely to believe that AIDS research projets uses methods that breakes with basic computer security.

ShawnD -> Are you really sure of what all your computers really are doing ?

Distributed denial of service attacks (ddos) is performed by fooling a huge number of people to install programs on their machine, that converts a huge number of PC's to remote controlled or time controlled attach machines.

One of the well known methods is to offer free security scans and then a free "security program" that in real life is a trojan.

I would not install some medical reseach program that have some of the same structure, unless I were quite sure about what I were doing.

It could be that most such projects is good ones until now, but for real hackers the distrubution of such programs should be a dream.

... Well I se that some of the project has adresses that seems to be secure, but I would really worry about the security if participating in such a project.
 
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  • #35
Langbein, these programs are put together by reputable organizations and if they were doing something malicious, it would be easy to see.
 
  • #36
OK, they might be good enough, but the way they work does have a bit in common with how viruses and trojans are working, so I would like to be rather sure that the one I am connecting to is a good one.
 
  • #37
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