Almost two years ago I formed the "Homebrewers" international grid computing team for the dual purpose of helping to spread information about our wonderful craft while at the same time helping humanity to find cures for many diseases such as cancer -- and doing so without asking for donations of time or money (just the spare, otherwise wasted, power on your PC). Our team did exceptionally well at first, eventually reaching 66th place, but things have slacked up a bit and many larger or more powerful teams are passing us. We are now ranked in 81st place out of 16,949 teams. Today we have 71 members, and together our homebrewers have donated almost a CENTURY worth of computer time for _non-profit_ medical research. Our team participates primarily on the World Community Grid, which was created and is sponsored by IBM, and it includes many very prestigious partners such as the American Cancer Society and even the Boys Scouts. Surely if _Boy_Scouts_ can help the world, then Homebrewers can, too. ;-)
I can personally vouch for the safety and securing of this program -- that I have never had a bit of trouble with my computer, which runs just as well as before my joining this project; in fact, I have constantly donated my spare computer power since the mid to late 1990's, and have never had any trouble whatsoever since then, either.
I know this has been a bit off-topic (well, it is for "Homebrewers"), but it is for a worthy cause and traffic has been very low on these groups recently anyway. Please take enough interest in your fellow man to check my website, and then join our Homebrewers team. If interested, please visit my personal site --
Thanks.
Bill Velek