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Put your computer to work advancing scientific knowledge when it's not helping you.
Google Compute is a feature of the Google Toolbar that enables your computer to help solve challenging scientific problems when it would otherwise be idle. When you enable Google Compute, your computer will download a small piece of a large research project and perform calculations on it that will then be included with the calculations performed by thousands of other computers doing the same thing. This process is known as distributed computing.
The first beneficiary of this effort is Folding@home, a non-profit academic research project at Stanford University that is trying to understand the structure of proteins so they can develop better treatments for a number of illnesses. In the future Google Compute may allow you to also donate your computing time to other carefully selected worthwhile endeavors, including projects to improve Google and its services.
The Google Compute feature of the Google Toolbar shouldn't affect your regular computing activities and you can easily disable it at any time for any reason.
To learn more about Google Compute before installing, please read our Frequently Asked Questions. In particular please read the parts on Privacy and Security, which you must read and accept if you decide to try Google Compute. If you do not own the computer on which you're installing Google Compute, please ensure that you have the permission of the owner or administrator before installing this feature.
Requirements: