Search Results for: How much data will I download and upload while participating
How much data will I download and upload while participating with World Community Grid?
The amount of data that you transfer depends upon how your processing preferences are set to run, how powerful your computer is and how often your computer is on. It also varies based upon which research projects you run on your computer. An average computer contributing to World Community Grid returns about 2 results per day.
Each of the research projects at World Community Grid uses a different application, input files and output files. As a result, the size used for each of these varies by project. This is outlined on the chart below. Please note that the data is compressed during transfer and is decompressed after it has been downloaded. As a result it will occupy more space on disk then the numbers shown below.
| Research Project | One-Time Download | Per Workunit Download | Per Workunit Upload |
| Africa Rainfall Project | 100 MB | 100 MB | 60 MB |
| FightAIDS@Home - Phase 2 | 10 MB | 0.2 MB | 1 MB |
| Help Stop TB | 30 MB | 5 MB | 10 MB |
| Mapping Cancer Markers | 40 MB | 0.1 MB | 3 MB |
| Microbiome Immunity Project | 100 MB | 50 MB | 1.5 MB |
| OpenPandemics - COVID19 | 10 MB | 0.2 MB | 0.1 MB |
| Smash Childhood Cancer | 2 MB | 0.2 MB | 0.1 MB |
Why did this project download and upload so much data?
Climate simulations require three-dimensional information about temperature, pressure, wind, humidity and surface properties for the entire region being studied at a detailed grid level. In addition, information arriving at the boundary of the region over the time span being studied is needed. This requires a considerable amount of input data, and as the simulation runs, a large quantity of output data is produced.
Why is my device uploading result data (intermediate upload files) while a research task is still in progress?
We are using a mechanism called intermediate uploads whereby at certain processing milestones, your device would send us back partial results for the research task your device is currently working on. This allows us to validate the work you have completed up to that point and helps the researchers examine and interpret the results being returned by the volunteers.
I have a result that the BOINC Manager reports as being "Ready to Report." What does that mean?
The BOINC client returns a completed work unit to the server in a two-step process. The first step is the uploading of the calculated data (called the result file). The second step is for the BOINC client to contact the server and report that the work unit is complete and to provide additional information, including how long it took to process the work unit. The BOINC Manager will report a work units status as 'Uploading' as soon as the work unit has completed. Once the file has been uploaded, then the BOINC Manager will report the work unit as 'Ready to Report'. More information about work unit status messages may be found here.
Is there any way we can find a history of how much data has been sent to and received from the World Community Grid server?
No. At this time there is no way to see how much data has been actually transferred by a given client.
Will it use up my cellphone data plan?
No. The Android BOINC application only transfers data (downloads tasks or uploads results) when your device is connected to a WiFi network. You can override these default settings in device preferences.
What is unique about how research tasks are managed for FightAIDS@Home – Phase 2? How does this impact how work will be distributed to volunteers?
The simulations researchers need to carry out are typically very long running and complex, each of which would take several months to run on a single device. Instead, researchers split up each simulation for a given drug candidate into shorter running research tasks: much smaller and more manageable pieces. These pieces of work can be run independently and simultaneously on a volunteer devices.
However for FightAIDS@Home – Phase 2, the research tasks within a single drug candidate simulation are dependent on each other where the output of one task is used as the input to the next. This means longer research tasks within each drug candidate simulation which can’t be run simultaneously.
To handle this complexity, we are using two different, but related mechanisms called trickle messaging and intermediate uploads to allow us to track your progress through a research task and manage the handover of that task from one volunteer to the next to get it completed in the shortest time possible. This way, we can track the progress of the long simulations to ensure that computations are not delayed or lost, while the researchers get the valuable results back as quickly as possible. In addition, volunteers acquire their credits sooner too.
Why do I have to opt into AfricanClimate@Home in order to participate?
The AfricanClimate@Home downloaded work unit size is anticipated to be approximately 77MB, which means it is approximately 150 times larger than a typical FightAIDS@Home or HPF2 work unit. Thus, a 756kbps network connection will take approximately 12-15 minutes to download the work unit. We have estimated that only about 33 percent of registered computers have enough bandwidth to be eligible to participate in this project.
Why is this project using intermediate uploads and trickle messages?
Unlike many of our research projects, FightAIDS@Home – Phase 2 requires that research tasks within each simulation, and small processing steps within each task, to be carried out in sequence. This means that it would take much longer to get the results to the researchers.
Trickle messaging and intermediate upload capabilities allow us instead to move the same research task from one volunteer to the next, without losing progress along the way. Overall, this assures progress, shortens and stabilizes the processing time required to complete research tasks and speeds up the rate at which valuable results can be returned to the researchers.
While a typical FightAIDS@Home – Phase 2 simulation might take up to a year to complete, using these capabilities means that it can be completed in as little as two months.
How do I keep the software from running while my laptop is only using battery power?
The software is configured so that it will not run while your laptop is on battery power.
My Internet Service Provider charges me based on the amount of bandwidth I use. How can I control how much bandwidth is used for World Community Grid?
The most recent version of the World Community Grid/BOINC Software allows you to control how much data is transferred between your computer and our servers. You can set this by doing the following:
You can use this to say that you only want World Community Grid to use at most 500MBytes of bandwidth every 7 days (which would then limit you to 2GBytes/month). Or you could put 1024MBytes every 31 days which would limit you to 1GB per month.
How do I determine why I cannot connect to the World Community Grid servers?
To determine why you are not receiving or sending workunits to World Community Grid, make sure you are using the latest version of the World Community Grid software and check your client firewall to ensure that the 'World Community Grid' software reflects "permit all" or similar verbiage that your firewall software uses to reflect an approved program.
If you are on the latest version and your firewall is set to allow the BOINC client to communicate, then please double click on the World Community Grid or BOINC icon in your system tray. Select messages and see if you have any entries like the following:
09/10/2007 14.30.14|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Started upload of file li349_00025_8_0
09/10/2007 14.30.15|World Community Grid|[file_xfer] Temporarily failed upload of li349_00025_8_0: http error
or
05/03/2008 11.55.14|World Community Grid|Sending scheduler request: Project initialization. Requesting 1 seconds of work, reporting 0 completed tasks
05/03/2008 11.55.19|World Community Grid|Scheduler request failed: Failure when receiving data from the peer
If you do, then you may need to set your proxy. Here is the FAQ that describes how to set your proxy. If you do not know your proxy information, contact your IT help desk.
How do I participate and donate my Android device's computing time?
Simply register for a World Community Grid account - during the registration process, you will be prompted to install the BOINC software on your Android device from the Google Play Store. Make sure to select 'World Community Grid' from the list of BOINC projects when you start the application.
If you're already a World Community Grid member, login to your account and go to the Download page instead.
The software is reporting a problem of low hard drive space. How do I fix this?
You need to free up some disk space on your computer in order to participate
May I download and process multiple work units, then return all of the results at one time?
The software used by World Community Grid does allow you to download multiple work units. It is unlikely that you will return all the work units together unless your device is disconnected from the internet while it completes the work units. For more information on cacheing workunits, please refer to this FAQ.
Is the agent continuously connected to the internet?
No. The agent connects to the internet when it finishes a work unit to upload the results as well as download a new work unit. This should take 2-3 minutes on a broadband connection and 10-15 minutes with a modem.
How do I set the software to close the internet connection after downloading a work unit?
The software does not attempt to control your Internet connection. Establishing and closing the connection is done by the operating system.
Why is my computer not getting as many work units for the Africa Rainfall Project as I want?
Due to the large file sizes of the input and output for this project, the number of tasks sent out per day will be much less than typical projects. For launch, we started out slow, and while the total number of tasks sent out per day may increase some as we get further in to the project, at this point we anticipate those increases to be minimal.
Why is Phase 2 of the Clean Energy Project an opt-in project?
These calculations require work units that may run longer, have higher memory, disk space and data transfer requirements. Therefore, we are providing the users the option to opt-in to the project.
In addition, The Clean Energy Project is the first World Community Grid project to use an external server. That is, your result data is directly uploaded to the Harvard research server. Security checks are in place to make certain that uploaded data is transferred correctly and validated by the Harvard research server that is receiving the data. World Community Grid controls which servers the data is sent to and the Harvard servers will not send data files to the member machines.
Therefore, if you're interested in advancing the science of solar cells, please help us out in this great effort!
How does the FightAIDS@Home software work?
At any one time, the project uses one of two software docking tools to automatically download small pieces of work to your device and performs calculations that model how drugs interact with various HIV virus mutations. After your device processes the information, the results are sent back to World Community Grid and then sent on to The Scripps Research Institute where they are analyzed by the Scripps research team. The process takes an enormous amount of computing time, which is why World Community Grid needs you (and your friends!) to participate in FightAIDS@Home project.
How do I set up my device so that it will download enough work to keep my device working for several days?
You may set up the BOINC agent so that it will keep a cache of work units to keep your device busy. You can do this on the website by going to your Settings page, and then selecting Device Manager. This screen will show you a list of your active devices. Associated with each device is a device profile. Click on the device profile associated with the device you want to cache additional work units on. On the Device Profile screen select 'Custom Profile' and then find the field labeled 'Work Unit Cache Settings', change the fields to meet your requirements and save the profile. Please do not use values longer then 4 days, as the scheduling algorithm in the client may prevent you from getting as much work as you would like.
I am running SETI@home on my computer? Will I be able to run both SETI@home and World Community Grid?
Yes and no. Any non-grid.org agent, such as SETI@home, will be able to continue to run on your computer after you download and install the World Community Grid agent. However, while you can run both clients at the same time, SETI@home runs at a higher priority than the World Community Grid agent, so SETI@home will receive all the extra available CPU cycles and will starve the World Community Grid agent. Because of this, you should only run one or the other at any given time.
Why does the software immediately download a large file as soon as it is started?
The task downloaded by your software is comparing small pieces of data against a larger database. In order to make this task effective and to maximize the potential of your machine, it is necessary to keep some data locally. For the time being, this is a one-time download. Subsequent tasks may or may not have an up-front download depending upon the nature of the computational problem.
How will my computer make a difference on this project?
While your computer is powered on, much of the time the processor inside your computer is just waiting for something to do, such as processing your next keystroke or mouse click. These idle times add up to a very large amount of processor time, when multiplied across millions of computers, that could be tapped and used for productive purposes such as this project. This can accelerate the research dramatically. Some of these projects would take hundreds or thousands of years to accomplish with the normal resources available to the scientists, and thus are likely not to even be attempted. World Community Grid and your contributions make projects such as these possible for the first time.
I want to contribute to one of World Community Grid's research projects. How do I register for a particular research project and start contributing?
Members only need to register and attach once to World Community Grid in order to contribute to any, or all, of our research projects. In order to contribute, please take the following steps:
- Register with World Community Grid
- Select which of our research projects you wish to contribute to:
- The registration process gives you a list of research projects to choose from
- If you are already registered, you may change which projects you contribute to on your My Projects page
- If you do not already have BOINC installed, download and install the software
- If you already have the current version of BOINC installed, then you may participate in World Community Grid using your existing BOINC software. Just attach to World Community Grid using the URL: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org and the email address and password you used at registration.
I'm using the BOINC agent, how do I choose which project or projects my device processes work for?
You may select which projects you participate in using the My Projects page. This will set the projects you participate in for all of your devices. To set projects to run on certain device profiles, go to the Device Profiles page on our website. From there you can set each of your BOINC device profiles to run a different set of projects.
How did the Genome Comparison software work?
The software automatically downloaded small pieces of data (predicted protein sequences) and performed sequence comparisons to accurately calculate the similarity level among them. After the information was processed by members computers, the results were sent by World Community Grid to Fiocruz where they are being analyzed by the Bioinformatics Team at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Large-scale comparative analysis applying Smith-Waterman algorithm is computationally intensive and demanded exceptionally huge computational power, which is why it was a perfect project for World Community Grid.
How do I set my preferences so that World Community Grid will use my GPU while I am actively using my computer?
Once you have allowed World Community Grid to use your GPU, we only use your GPU while you are not actively using your computer.
If you want World Community Grid to use your GPU at all times, you must manually enable this option by going to the Device Profile page under the Custom Options section. This option is labeled "Do work on my graphics card while computer is in use?". You may select either "Yes" or "No."
How can I help?
Anyone with a computer can help scientists understand how the human microbiome impacts disease, simply by joining World Community Grid.
It's easy: you create a World Community Grid account, select to support the Microbiome Immunity Project and then install our free and safe software on your computer. Then, whenever your computer has any unused computing power, it runs a simulation on behalf of the Microbiome Immunity Project team. The more people that participate, the quicker the researchers can get their work done!
What about connection costs?
The only costs associated with the connection depend on your service with your ISP. Uploads and downloads do not typically require lengthy connections, however busy periods or maintenance outages may impact your connection.
Additional information on connections may be found here.
How do I make World Community Grid run while my computer is on batteries?
You may change your preferences to allow World Community Grid to run while you are on battery power as follows:
- To change your preferences for all computers under your member name, sign on to our website and go to your “Settings" page. Select “Device Manager”, then “Device Profiles" from the left hand Navigation. Click the Profile Name that you want to alter and select “Custom Profile”. Under “Processor Usage” change your setting to reflect: “Do work while computer is running on batteries: Yes” and select “save”. The new settings will take effect when the agent software next communicates with the servers.
- To change the preferences for a particular computer under your member name. Double left click on the World Community Grid, or BOINC, icon in the system tray of the appropriate computer. Select Preferences from Simple View. Then check “I want to customize my preferences for this computer only” and then click “Do work while on battery” and “save”. The setting changes made here take effect immediately and override those in the device profile above.
How will statistics be updated for GPU participation?
World Community Grid will award run time based on the elapsed time from when a work unit is started and when it finishes running. Credit and result counts will be awarded in the same manner as CPU participation.
What does the Progress Bar at the top represent?
This graphically shows the approximate percentage of how far along your device is in calculating the current task. When it reaches 100%, the computation is completed and the results will then be uploaded to the servers at World Community Grid before being packaged and sent back to the research team.
I am an existing member but need to re-install the software because I have a new device. How do I do that?
For existing members, please log in on the website and then click the ‘download’ button on the navigation bar or, click here. Follow the instructions to install the software.
How can I help?
Anyone with a computer can help the search for potential COVID-19 treatments by joining World Community Grid.
It's easy: you create a World Community Grid account, select to support OpenPandemics - COVID-19, and then install our free and safe software on your computer. Then, whenever your computer has any unused computing power, it runs a simulation on behalf of the OpenPandemics research team to evaluate the effectiveness of chemical compounds as potential COVID-19 treatment options.
The more people that participate, the quicker the researchers can get their work done!
I need to completely stop the agent for a while. How do I do it?
If you need to stop your agent for a little while, use the snooze icon (moon shape) on the agent. You can change the default on the preferences page (check icon). If you are running a memory intensive application for a longer period of time and notice slight delays, you might want to set the agent to run only as a screen saver. Go to the preferences window (the one with the check icon) and select "Run only as Screen Saver" and then click on "Apply". This will make the agent only run when your pc is in screen saver mode. Finally, you can completely stop the agent by first minimizing its window, right clicking on its icon in the tray at the lower right, and selecting "Exit". This causes the agent to stop until the next reboot. You can also restart it at any time using the Start menu.
How do I set the software to not run while I am using the computer?
To change your preferences for all computers under your member name, sign on to our website and go to your “Settings” page. Select “Device Manager”, then “Device Profiles" from the left hand Navigation. Click the Profile Name that you want to update and select custom profile. Under "Advanced Options" change your settings as follows:
The new settings will take effect when the software next communicates with the servers.
How may I tell how much my team is contributing?
There are two ways to do this:
- Go to the home page and sign in. On the My Contribution page, the team that you are a member of will be shown in the center of the page next to My Team. Select that link to view the team statistics.
- Click Here to search for a team. This section is listed under "Find a Team" in the My Contribution section, but will allow you to search through all the teams that have been created at World Community Grid.
How do I join the FightAIDS@Home Project?
All you need to do to join FightAIDS@Home is download and install the free software. Once that has been done, your device is then automatically put to work, but you can also continue using it as normal. Click here to get started.
Why am I not contributing?
There are a number of reasons why you may not be contributing to World Community Grid. One of the primary reasons this happens is that you may have a new device, or a new storage disk, and you did not download the World Community Grid software to your new device. To understand why you are not currently contributing and learn how to start contributing again, please click here.
How can I help reduce the energy usage associated with my computer?
The World Community Grid software and the workstation power management software may work in a complementary fashion. A World Community Grid participating computer may be set so that when it is in active use, the World Community Grid software harvests the unused CPU time. When a computer is not in active use for more than ten minutes, then power management software may be activated in accordance with the user's setting to enable energy saving. This may be enabled by going to your Device Profiles and selecting your 'Default' (or appropriate) profile and then selecting the 'Power Saving' option. There's plenty of computing power in the majority of our member's computers – enough to do their job, be productive, contribute to humanitarian research and still conserve energy at the end of the day.
By utilizing the Power–Saving Capability, we can all actively work towards reducing our energy use. And if you also participate in World Community Grid, you will be contributing to valuable humanitarian research.
How can I prevent the BOINC client from receiving new work units, but still finish the work units that are in progress?
You may complete the work units currently in progress, and prevent the BOINC client from downloading any new work units by taking the following steps:
- Open your BOINC Manager window (make sure that you are in 'Advanced' view and not 'Simple' view)
- Click on the 'Projects' tab
- Select the BOINC project you no longer wish to receive work units for
- Click on the 'No new tasks' button on the left hand side
Where may I download a picture of the OpenPandemics – COVID-19 graphic?
Click here to view and download an image of the OpenPandemics – COVID-19 screensaver.
How does the software return results?
The software returns a result to the World Community Grid servers in two phases. The first phase begins as soon as the workunit has finished processing. The first phase involves uploading the result files to the World Community Grid servers. The second phase consist of the software contacting the World Community Grid scheduler and notifying it that all the result files have been uploaded and the result is ready for validation. The second phase might not occur for several hours after a workunit has finished processing. This delay is because the software tries to minimize the number of scheduler communications that are made in order to minimize the load on the World Community Grid servers. By delaying the request, the software may be able to combine two communications into one.
If you have a ‘always on connection’ or if your machine is configured to automatically dial-up when an internet connection is needed, then the software will perform all of these activities automatically without any member intervention required.
I'm having trouble downloading the software
Perhaps your Internet Explorer is configured to block installing downloads. Within Internet Explorer, click on Tools-> Internet Options -> Security -> Custom Level -> Downloads. Check to see that File downloads are enabled. There might be other settings which need to be enabled such as the ability to execute Javascript. Please also check to see if your network requires a proxy, click here for Proxy FAQs.
How can I change the screensaver resource limits on my computer?
You will need to modify your Device Profile on the website. On your Settings page, select Device Manager, and then Device Profiles. Under Profile Name, select which Profile you would like to change (Default, School, Home, etc.). Then select the Custom Profile radio button. Under Advanced Options, scroll down to the Graphics section. The defaults are set to 7 frames per second and 5% cpu usage. If you would like the screensavers to refresh quicker, change the frames per second to 30. If the screensavers are taking up too much CPU power, decrease the percentage from 5% down to 2% to keep the screen saver usage to a minimum. Click Save at the bottom of the page to save your changes. The next time your computer communicates with our website, the preferences will be updated.
What is BOINC?
software that supports volunteer computing. BOINC was developed under a National Science Foundation grant at the University of California, Berkeley and is used for many different volunteer computing initiatives. It consists of software that a user downloads and runs on their computer, as well as server components that handle distributing work units and receiving results.
World Community Grid uses BOINC as a key part of its infrastructure in order to help support research for multiple institutions. Volunteers participate in World Community Grid either by downloading the World Community Grid branded version of the BOINC software, or the BOINC software itself, available directly from BOINC's website.
More information about BOINC can be found here.
How might the data generated by OpenPandemics - COVID-19 be valuable to scientists?
The data generated during the project could represent ideal starting points for the design of new classes of drugs to target COVID-19 and other coronaviruses. Additionally, OpenPandemics - COVID-19 could build a model for the fast deployment of computational resources to help identify potential treatments during fast-spreading pandemics.
And because all data, tools, and processes that are developed through OpenPandemics - COVID-19 will be shared freely, the project can benefit the scientific community at large.
How does the GO Fight Against Malaria software work?
The GO Fight Against Malaria project uses software that automatically downloads small amounts of input data and then performs calculations that model how well different drug candidates interact with various molecular targets from the malaria parasite. After your device finishes one set of calculations, the results are sent by World Community Grid to a computer at The Scripps Research Institute. The Scripps research team then analyzes the results produced by all of the different donor machines on World Community Grid.
This project uses AutoDock 4.2 and the new AutoDock Vina computer software to evaluate how well each candidate compound (molecule) attaches ("docks" or "binds") against a malarial target (usually a protein molecule.) Millions of candidate compounds will be tested against 14 different molecular drug targets from the malaria parasite in order to discover new compounds that can block (inhibit) the activity of these multi-drug-resistant mutant superbugs. These candidates will be tested by docking flexible models of them against 3-D, atomic-scale models of different protein drug targets from the malaria parasite, to predict (a) how tightly these compounds might be able to bind, (b) where these compounds prefer to bind on the molecular target, and (c) what specific interactions are formed between the candidate and the drug target. In other words, these calculations will be used to predict the affinity/potency of the compound, the location where it binds on the protein molecule, and the mode it uses to potentially disable the target. Compounds that can bind tightly to the right regions of particular proteins from the malaria parasite have the potential to “gum up” the parasite’s machinery and, thus, help advance the discovery of new types of drugs to cure malaria.
How do I know if my computer is running the 64-bit research application?
On a Windows machine, you can use the Windows task manager to view the process name. 64-bit research applications will end with "windows_intelx86_64", while 32-bit applications will end with "windows_intelx86"
On a Linux machine, you can find the PID of the research application (which will start with the name "wcg") and then execute the command "file -L /proc/PID/exe"
On OS X we only support 64 bit applications, therefore all World Community Grid tasks will be running a 64 bit application.
Where may I get the BOINC client for Windows, Linux, or Mac?
If you are a new member and do not currently have a World Community Grid member name, you may register and download the BOINC client here. If you are currently a World Community Grid member and want to download the BOINC client to a new, or additional computer(s), you may download the BOINC client client here.
How might the data generated on this project be useful to Zika researchers?
World Community Grid volunteers’ computers and Android devices will complete virtual screenings of chemical compounds that may be effective against the Zika virus. These virtual screenings will generate data about the potential effectiveness of chemical compounds that could be used as antiviral medicines. Once the virtual screenings are complete, researchers will use the data to test promising compounds in laboratories.
In compliance with World Community Grid policy, the researchers will make their data openly accessible, thereby allowing other scientists to apply their own methods and approaches to further study promising compounds. The open data component of this project (and all other World Community Grid projects) means that the likelihood of finding effective drug treatments for Zika may be higher than if the researchers worked in isolation.
What does the progress bar in the screen saver represent?
The progress bar, towards the bottom of the screen saver, represents approximately how much of the current task your device has processed. When it reaches 100%, the computation is complete and the results will then be sent back to World Community Grid, where they will be packaged and delivered to the Help Stop TB researchers.
Where may I download pictures of the FightAIDS@Home - Phase 2 graphics?
A screenshot of the project graphics is available for download in the following resolutions:
Where may I download pictures of the Help Stop TB graphics?
A screenshot of the project graphics is available for download in the following resolutions:
Where may I download pictures of the Smash Childhood Cancer graphics?
A screenshot of the project graphics is available for download in the following resolutions:
May I join more than one team?
No. A member may join only one team at a time but may leave a team and join another team at any time. The statistics that you accrue while on a team, remain with that team.
Is there a TB vaccine?
Currently there is one approved vaccine for TB, the Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccine, developed in 1921. However, it is 70-80% effective against the most severe forms of TB, such as TB meningitis in children, and it is less effective in protecting from respiratory TB which is the most common form of the disease in adults. Also, it is not possible to receive booster BCG shots later in life. While several new vaccines are in development, none are yet approved for use. The data that we will produce with your help will shed light on the biological role of the bacterium’s defense to antibiotics, thus contributing to the efforts of developing new vaccines.
Why are my work units failing with exit code 233 “ERROR: Kernel execution time estimate too high, exiting”?
At the beginning of each work unit run on your graphics card, a small portion of the workload is run to estimate the execution time of a single kernel execution on the graphics card. If this estimate is too high, the application will exit to reduce the risk of Windows restarting the display driver due to the Timeout Detection and Recovery feature of Windows. If this occurs, the above error message will be written to the stderr log. If this occurs multiple times, it is likely the graphics card is not capable of running the project. Please refer to the "What graphics cards are not able to participate in the Help Conquer Cancer research project?"FAQ for a list of graphics cards which are not supported.
If it occurs occasionally but not on every execution, it could be that other graphics intensive work is interfering. We recommend that you set your preferences to not allow World Community Grid to run while you are actively utilizing your computer. This option is available on the Device Profile page under the custom options section. This option is labeled "Do work on my graphics card while computer is in use?". Select "no" and save.
What is BOINC?
The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) is open-source software that supports volunteer computing. BOINC was developed under a National Science Foundation grant at the University of California, Berkeley and is used for many different volunteer computing initiatives. It consists of software that a user downloads and runs on their computer, as well as server components that handle distributing work units and receiving results.
World Community Grid uses BOINC as a key part of its infrastructure in order to help support research for multiple institutions. Volunteers participate in World Community Grid either by downloading the World Community Grid branded version of the BOINC software, or the BOINC software itself, available directly from BOINC's website.
More information about BOINC can be found here.