Search Results for: %22How do I contact my team members%3F%22
How do I contact my team members?
Team captains may e-mail (email) the members of their team and team members may send e-mails to their team captain. To use this feature, just go to your team page and click the "e-mail team" or "e-mail captain" button.
Team e-mails will be sent to any member of the team who has opted-in to receive the e-mails. If there are no members opted-in, there is a warning message for the captain, and there is no button to send the e-mail. The same applies in reverse if the captain has not opted-in.
To opt-in to team e-mails, you may go to My Profile and select the option to receive team e-mails. You will also see that you can enter in an alternate email address that is used only for team emails.
Some teams have a URL pointing to their site where they have created a special forum for team members to chat. As an alternative, you might go to the World Community Grid forums by selecting Forums from the global navigation bar. The forums contain Team forums expressly for team activity. You might consider reaching out to other members from your team in one of these forums.
We recommend that you do not divulge any private information in the forums as they are public forums.
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 quit a team?
Go to the home page and sign in. From the My Contribution page, select My Team from the left navigation menu, the system will return the team information for the team of which you are a member. Press "quit" and you will no longer be a member of that team. The statistics that you have contributed to this team will stay with that team.
If you are not currently a member of any team, "quit" will not be an option.
How do I join a team?
- Go to the home page and log in.
- From the My Contribution page, select My Team from the left navigation menu.
- From the Find a Team page, under Keyword Search, Next to "Team" select the "Name" drop down and in the text box next to "Contains:", enter all or portions of the team name of the team that you wish to join,
- Press search. If there is more than one team name returned, find the one that you wish to join.
- Click on the team name and the system will return the team information.
- Press "join this team" to become a member of the team.
How is my team rank calculated?
A member may see their team stats on their My Team page for run time, points, and results returned. Your team rank is based on the total number of teams that have returned a result. You may see how many teams there currently are on the Team Statistics page.
How do I invite teams from my team's country?
Unfortunately, the Issue Team Challenge team search doesn't filter by country. To invite teams from your country to your Team Challenge, you can filter by country on the Find A Team page, and then do a search by name on the Issue Team Challenge search for the teams that come up in the country-filtered Find A Team search. The best way to do this is to open two browser windows so that you can have each page open at the same time. The Issue Team Challenge page will not save the teams you've invited if you go to a different page before clicking the submit button.
How do you change team captains?
If you are the current team captain, you may appoint a new team captain by following these steps:
1. Log in to your World Community Grid account.
2. Click on My Contribution, then click on My Team on the left side of the page.
3. Click on the 'Appoint New Captain' link, next to your Member Name listed as Captain.
4. Choose the team member who you would like to become captain, and click the 'Appoint as Captain' link next to their name.
How do I create a Team Challenge?
As the captain of a team, you may create as many Team Challenges as you want; the only requirement is that they have different names so members can tell them apart from other Team Challenges.
To create a Team Challenge, go to My Contribution and click on My Team in the lefthand navigation. Just under the Team Information, you'll see the Team Control Panel with an Issue Team Challenge button. Click the button to be taken to the Issue Team Challenge page.
Once on the Issue Team Challenge page, you start by picking a name for your Team Challenge. After that, decide if you want your Team Challenge to be open to all teams, or if you want to choose which teams to invite. If you want an Open Challenge, check the box next to "Open Challenge?"
Next up, pick the dates for your Team Challenge. The Start Date must be at least one day in the future, but not more than 30 days away. The End Date must be at least one day after the Start Date, but not more than 180 days after the Start Date.
Once you've chosen the dates, select what type of Team Challenge you'd like. The choices are Points, Run Time, and Results Returned, or an Increase in one of Points, Run Time, or Results Returned. For more in the "increase" challenges, read this FAQ.
Next choose whether or not you want to allow Late Joiners; that is, allow teams to join the challenge after the Start Date. This applies to teams that are invited as well as for Open challenges. Teams that join a challenge after the Start Date will only receive credit for statistics after they join the challenge.
Last but not least, you may invite other teams to participate in your Team Challenge. You may invite teams even if your are issuing an Open Challenge. If you are issuing a Closed Challenge you must invite at least one team.
To invite teams, just search for the name of the team you want to invite, and click the link to "Invite This Team." For more general searches, only the first 25 teams are returned. If this happens, try being a little more specific in your search.
Where do I check on the status, statistics, etc. for my Team Challenge (or a challenge my team is participating in)?
Just go to your My Team page, and scroll down to the Challenge Control Panel. All team members will see up to five Current and Upcoming Team Challenges (team captains will see Pending Team Challenges as well). If your team has more than five Current Team Challenges or more than five Upcoming Team Challenges, you may click the link at the bottom of the Challenge Control Panel to view your team's entire Team Challenge History. In the Challenge Control Panel or Team Challenge History View you may click on the name of the challenge to view more details about the challenge; for example: scores for all teams in the challenge, the names of the other teams participating in the challenge, and whether the challenge is open or not. The Team Challenge History page is where you may view your team's past challenges.
How do I create a Team Challenge that is open to all teams?
When on the Issue Team Challenge page, just give your Team Challenge a name, check the box labeled "Open Challenge?", enter dates for your Team Challenge, select a type of challenge, and click the submit button. Done!
You can invite teams to an Open Challenge if you'd like. This will insure that your challenge invitation shows up in the team captains Pending Challenges under the Challenge Control Panel. If the team captain has chosen to receive Team E-mails (via the My Profile page) they will also receive an e-mail informing them of your newly created Team Challenge.
How do I create a Team Challenge that is just limited to certain teams?
When on the Issue Team Challenge page, just give your Team Challenge a name, enter dates for your Team Challenge, select a type of challenge, and invite at least one other team. Inviting teams is as simple as searching for a team name, and clicking the link to "Invite This Team." You may do a search, invite some teams, and then do another search to get a broad array of teams to invite to your challenge.
How are Team Points and Personal Points Distributed?
Points that you earn are only credited to a team if they are earned while you are a member of that team. Additionally, if you quit a team or join another team, then the points that you earned for your previous team will stay with that team. You cannot transfer credit you previously earned to a new team.
Any points you earn whether you are on a team or not will always show up under your personal statistics.
You can view the points that you have earned for different teams at the bottom of your My Contribution page.
How may I change my team name, description, or URL?
Team name, description, and URL may only be changed by the team captain. To change this information, sign in to My Contribution, select My Team from the left menu. From the My Team page, select Edit. On the Edit Your Team page, make the changes and select Save.
How do I create a new team?
Your personal World Community Grid account must have a username before you can create a team. Please go here for instructions on how to create a username.
Go to the home page and sign in. From the My Contribution page, select My Team from the left navigation menu, then select Create a New Team from the left navigation menu. Follow the instructions on the page for adding a team and then select save.
Please familiarize yourself with what the World Community Grid considers objectionable before creating a new team.
How will the captains of teams I've invited to my challenge know about it?
There are two ways that World Community Grid informs captains about challenge invitations:
- If a captain has chosen to receive Team E-mails (on the My Profile page), they will receive an email for each challenge to which they are invited.
- On the My Team page, there is a Challenge Control Panel. Team captains will see challenges to which they've been invited under a section called Pending Challenges. Captains can accept challenges directly from the Challenge Control Panel, or they can click the name of the Team Challenge to view the full details of the Team Challenge before accepting or declining the invitation.
What is the Verification Code and what is it used for?
The Verification Code is a private, personal code that you can use to verify your team membership and team stats. There are teams that provide incentives and/or rewards to members for being a part of their team. World Community Grid is providing the Verification Code as a way for these teams to verify their members' statistics and team membership without requiring members to give the team their password.
Note that your Verification Code will change if you change your member name and/or password. If your team is relying on your verification code to verify your membership and statistics, be sure they have your current Verification Code.
To verify the team membership and statistics for a member, use the API:
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/verifyMember.do?name=MEMBERNAME&code=VERIFICATIONCODE
You must set your data sharing preferences to "Display my data" for this API to return data for your account.
You will get a response in XML containing the membership information for that member. If there is an error, it will be reported back in the XML response.
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.
I have the same device listed more than once on my device list. Why is that?
When a device first contacts the server, the server creates a database record for the device. This record stores details like Operating System, available memory and how many times the device has communicated with the server. Each time the device communicates with the server, it compares various details about the device with its record on the server in an attempt to identify if it is the same device contacting the server. If anything appears different, the system will create a new record for the device and treat it as a new device. This prevents issues that can arise in different installation scenarious (such as in computer labs where each computer is setup identically and gets an identical installation image). Sometimes this leads to multiple entries for the same device in the website device list, but it ensures the proper functioning of the overall system.
In situations where a new device listing is created, the previous device listing will no longer act as a contributing device (even though it is showing up in your device list). The Device Manager page and the Device Statistics page shows, by default, all of your devices that were registered within the past 7 days or that have returned a result within the past 14 days. Unused devices do not appear on this page when these time periods have passed.
I tried to recover my password via email but did not receive it. What is wrong?
The most common reason for this happening is that the email address in your profile is not correct. When registering, you were asked to provide an email address and you may have mistyped your email address, or your email address may have changed since then. If the email address is incorrect, and you no longer have access to the old email address, please use the Contact Us form to receive additional assistance.
Am I required to add a username to my profile?
No. Adding a username to your profile is optional, after you have completed the registration process. However, you will not be able to do any of the following if you have not added a username to your profile:
- post in the forums
- create a team
- become a team captain
- make your World Community Grid data public
- recover the email address associated with your member account
Once you have added a username, you will not be able to revert back to having no username associated with your account. You can change your username at any time. If you do change your username, your previous username will become available to other members.
May I invite more teams to my Team Challenge after I issue it?
Once a Team Challenge has been issued (by pressing the submit button on the Issue Team Challenge page), no more teams may be invited. If you have issued an Open Challenge, other teams may still join the challenge up to the Start Date, or until the end of the challenge if you have chosen to allow Late Joiners (Late Joiners only get credit for statistics accumulated after joining the challenge).
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.
How do I change my country name?
To change your country name, take the following steps:
- Sign in using your current member name and password.
- Click the Settings link at the top of the page.
- Select the My Profile option from the menu on the left.
- On the My Profile page, select the country of your choice.
- Enter your current password and press Save.
How do I change my username?
To change your username, take the following steps:
- Log in to your World Community Grid member account.
- Select Settings from the top right of any webpage.
- Select My Profile from the menu on the left.
- Change your username to an available username.
- Enter your current password and press Save.
If I have more than one GPU on my computer, how do I let World Community Grid run on all of my GPUs?
In order to do this, you have to use the <use_all_gpus> tag in the cc_config.xml file. Instructions to do this are available here.
Why do I need to verify my email address?
Verifying your email address is necessary if you want to:
- Receive World Community Grid related emails, which can be customized in your Communication Preferences
- Post in the forums
- Create a team
- Become team captain
- Make your World Community Grid data public
- Recover your password
How is my individual member rank calculated?
A member may see their individual stats on their My Contribution page for run time, points, and results returned. Your individual rank is based on the total number of members that have returned a result. You may see how many members there currently are on the Global Statistics page.
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 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.
How do I add a username?
To add a username to your World Community Grid account, take the following steps:
- Log in to your World Community Grid member account.
- Select Settings from the top right of any webpage.
- Select My Profile from the menu on the left.
- Add a username.
- Enter your current password and press Save.
How do I limit the number of tasks assigned to one of my devices for a specific project?
Some projects can be very memory intensive, and some devices are not able to handle these memory intensive projects starting up multiple tasks for that project at a single time. Limiting the number of tasks allowed for a project will help to keep that from happening.
To limit the number of tasks for a specific project, please follow these steps:
- Log in to your member account.
- Click on Settings and then Device Manager.
- Select the device profile you would like to make the changes to.
- On the Device Profiles page, select Custom Profile.
- Scroll down to the Project Limits section and set the tasks limits to your preferences.
- Click the Save button.
The software keeps writing "Deferring communication with project for W days, X hours, Y minutes, and Z seconds". What does this mean and how do I get it to connect now?
This message appears when the software has experienced a problem connecting to the server. This may be because of some problem on your local device or because World Community Grid's servers are temporarily unavailable due to maintenance or updates.
The software will delay the attempt to reconnect because during the time that the servers are unavailable, more and more volunteers' devices will try to connect to the servers. Once the servers became available the servers could become overwhelmed if all of the local devices attempted to contact them at once. This delay mechanism reduces the chances of the servers being overwhelmed.
How do I keep from getting H1N1 influenza?
There is no guaranteed way to avoid getting influenza. However, the following CDC guidelines of everyday actions could help you stay healthy:
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, and throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
- Stay home if you get sick. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
What is my BOINC account key and where do I find it?
The BOINC Account key is a unique identifier that is used by the BOINC client and the BOINC server to uniquely identify you and the devices registered under your member name. You may find your BOINC account key on your My Profile page.
How do I shut down or change my screen saver?
Click on [Start] [Settings] [Control Panel], and then double click on "Display." Click on [Screen Saver]. Use the drop down menu to either change the screen saver or shut it off by selecting "None."
I entered in my proxy information but I still cannot get work. How do I get it to work?
If after you enter your proxy information and you still see messages such as those displayed in the FAQ "How do I determine why I cannot connect to the World Community Grid servers?" above and you have checked and made sure that you are on the latest version of the World Community Grid software, then you will need to take the following additional steps:
You need to determine what type of proxy authentication you are using. To determine your proxy authentication please refer to this FAQ.
Once you have determined your proxy authentication, open windows explorer and go to C:\Program Files\BOINC. In this directory you will see a file called cc_config.xml. Assuming you are using windows, right mouse click on the this file and select 'Open With' and select 'Notepad'.
This will open a new window that will be populated with the contents of your cc_config.xml file. It will look something like the following:
<cc_config>
<log_flags>
<file_xfer_debug>1</file_xfer_debug>
<http_debug>1</http_debug>
<http_xfer_debug>1</http_xfer_debug>
<proxy_debug>1</proxy_debug>
</log_flags>
</cc_config>
You want to replace this with additional settings for your 'ntlm' or 'basic' proxy.
<cc_config>
<log_flags>
<file_xfer_debug>1</file_xfer_debug>
<http_debug>1</http_debug>
<http_xfer_debug>1</http_xfer_debug>
<proxy_debug>1</proxy_debug>
</log_flags>
<options>
<force_auth>xxxxx</force_auth>
</options>
</cc_config>
Replace the above 'xxxxx' with either ntlm, basic or gss-negotiate based on what type of authentication you are using and save the file.
In order to make the software re-read the file do the following:
Double click on the World Community Grid icon in the system tray
When it opens, if you see some text that says 'Advanced View', then click on it
From the options on the top of the screen select 'Advanced' -> 'Read config files'
Finally, in order to check that you are able to download work, please do the following:
Select the 'projects' tab
Select World Community Grid from the list
Click on the 'Update' button.
Go to the messages tab
If all is working correctly, then you will see that you are downloading work and you will start processing it. If this has not helped you, then you can seek further help in the forums or by contacting us through the contact us feature on our website.
How do I change my password?
To change your password, take the following steps:
If I change my username, will I lose my points?
No, changing your member name will not affect your points or any other contribution that you've made to 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."
What ports do I have to open on my firewall to let the software connect to the server?
Open ports 80, 443 and 31416 outbound.
How do I change my email address?
To change your email address, take the following steps:
- Log in to your World Community Grid member account.
- Select Settings from the top right of any webpage.
- Click on the My Profile tab on the left hand side of the page.
- Change your email address.
- Enter your current password and press Save.
- Verify your new email address via the verification email sent to the new email address.
My team page contains the words "BOINC Team ID." What does that mean?
World Community Grid has members who participate through BOINC. On BOINC, these members have a layer of team statistics as they are able to participate in multiple distributed computing projects. BOINC Team ID" refers to an identifier found on the BOINC site for this purpose (http://www.boincstats.com/). For more information about BOINC, please go to the Help facility and search on BOINC.
Is there an easy way for my friends to join my team?
Yes. At the bottom of your My Team page are two web addresses that provide an easy way for your friends to join your team.
The first web address may be sent in an email to your friends that are already members of World Community Grid and they may just click on the web address and then click on the join now button on the page that appears.
The second web address may be sent in an email to your friends that are not currently members of World Community Grid. When they register, the team will be automatically selected for them. Let them know that they will still need to download and install the World Community Grid software.
Why does my country have so few members when I know there are more?
On the Statistics By Geography page you can see that there are tens of thousands of member who have decided not to identify their country. If you wish to identify yourself with a country, please update your profile.
I know that my device has returned several results. Where can I check the status of those results?
You may check your World Community Grid results by logging into our website using your existing member name. On the left hand menu on your "My Contribution" page, select "Results Status". You may access this page here. A detailed description of the various statistics may be found here.
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 do I get the software to use 100% of the available CPU?
The software has a default setting of 60%. You may change the CPU utilization setting to 100% CPU utilization, we certainly welcome the additional contribution this setting brings to our projects.
- 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 “Disk Usage” change your setting to reflect: “Use no more than: 100% of total disk space” 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 the information panel should reflect “Use no more than 100% of the processor” and “save”. The setting changes made here take effect immediately and override those in the device profile above.
I checked the 'Remember Me' box when I signed in, but now the site is asking me to log in again.
As a security precaution, you must verify your member name and password in order to view pages that contain private member information.
For example, if you signed in a few days ago and checked the 'Remember Me' box, you won't be asked to sign in to view your My Statistics page. If you go to My Profile, you may have to sign in again since this page allows you to change your member name and email address (among other things).
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.
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 do I remove my member information from the World Community Grid system?
To permanently delete your account and remove your World Community Grid member information from our system, please take the following steps:
- Log in to your World Community Grid member account.
- Go to the Delete Account page (located in the My Profile section of your Settings). Read the instructions on this page carefully, as this is a permanent action and your account and information cannot be recovered once deleted.
- Once you submit the request for your account to be deleted, we will ask you to confirm that action via email. Therefore, first check that the email address listed on the page is correct, then enter in your World Community Grid account password, and click the Delete Account button.
- You will receive an email from us, to the email address that was listed, asking you to click a link to confirm your request to delete your account. If you don't click on the link within 24 hours, the action will be cancelled.
After clicking on the Delete Account link in the email that was sent, you will have up to 48 hours to return to the Delete Account page and cancel the action, if you choose.
Will I be able to select to run work units only on my CPU, or only on my GPU, or both?
There are separate and independent settings for World Community Grid to run on either your CPU or on your GPU.
By default, World Community Grid is set up to only run work using your CPU and not using your GPU. The CPU preference is available on the Device Profiles page under the custom options section. This option is labeled "Allow research to run on my CPU?" You may select either "Yes" or "No."
To run World Community Grid work units on your GPU, refer to "How do I configure my settings so that World Community Grid uses my device's GPU?" for details.
How do I join the GO Fight Against Malaria project?
Detailed, step-by-step instructions are available at: http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/reg/viewRegister.do. After installing BOINC and registering to become a member of World Community Grid, your computing device is then automatically put to work on these projects, and you can continue using your device as usual.
How do I set up my system so that the windows agent starts for several or all of the users that log in?
You can place the World Community Grid icon into each of the user's startup folders (in Start Menu->Programs->Startup), which will make the agent start whenever those particular users log on. You can also place it in the startup folder for "All users" which should make it run for everyone. One way to get to these folders is via: My Computer -> Local disk C: -> Documents and Settings -> All Users -> Start Menu -> Programs -> Startup, for example.
How do I calculate my FLOPS (Floating Point Operations Per Second) based off my World Community Grid points?
BOINC provides a reference about credit and its relation to FLOPS here. However, you should know that seven (7) World Community Grid points are equal to one (1) BOINC credit.
Therefore, your total World Community Grid points divided by 700 gives you the number of GigaFLOPs and your World Community Grid points divided by 700,000 gives you the number of TeraFLOPs.
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.
Do I have to leave my device on all the time for this to work? Or always be online?
The software can run only when your device is on. The software doesn't need to be connected to the Internet to work its task, but once finished, it needs to reconnect to return data and to get a new task to work on. We do not ask our members to change their normal habits and schedule for using the device. The software will adapt to your usage patterns and only utilize the device's processing power when you don't otherwise need it.
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 do I clear my local preferences and use the preferences set on the website?
To clear your local preferences, you will need to pull up your preferences. To do this, double click on the World Community Grid, or BOINC icon, in your system tray and select Advanced View. Then in the top menu, pull down the "Advanced" menu and select "Preferences". Then click the "Clear" button. After you have done this, press "OK" to close the preferences window. Once this is done, select the "Projects" tab and click on World Community Grid. From the left hand menu, select "Update". This will retrieve the preferences from the website and clear your local preferences.
What are Project and Recruitment Badges?
Project badges recognize the contribution that a member has made to a research project running on World Community Grid, and recruitment badges recognize the member's contribution to introducing new volunteers to World Community Grid. All available project badges may be viewed here and all available recruitment badges may be viewed here.
Badges appear on a member's My Contribution page and next to their name in the forums.
Project Badges: There are 11 levels of badges awarded based upon how much computing time a member has contributed to each project:
Recruitment Badges: There are 5 levels of badges awarded based on how many new people a member has recruited to World Community Grid:
Members receive credit towards recruitment badges when someone signs up for World Community Grid using that member's unique recruitment URL and begins contributing computing power. You can get your recruitment URL and see which members you've recruited on your My Contribution page.
Recruitment badges are different from project badges in that they must be maintained. Recruited members must actively contribute computing power (return a result at least every 30 days) to count towards a member's recruitment badge. If an inactive recruited member becomes active again, they will once again count towards the recruitment total of the member who introduced them to World Community Grid.