What is volunteer computing?

Volunteer computing is when people let a project use their computer's spare processing time, usually while the machine is idle, so many ordinary computers together do work no single one could. Folding@home (started in 2000) and projects built on BOINC (released in 2002) have used it for science research for over two decades.

How does it work?

A project splits a big job into many small pieces. A small program on each volunteer's machine fetches a piece, works on it when the computer is idle, sends the result back, and fetches the next one. The project checks results, often by sending the same piece to more than one machine.

What kinds of work suit it?

Work that splits into independent pieces: simulations, rendering frames, searching large data sets, and some AI model runs. Work that needs pieces to talk to each other constantly suits it less.

What should a volunteer check first?

That the machine is usually plugged in and has idle time.
What exactly will run, and how to pause or stop it.
What data the project receives about you and your machine.
That it costs nothing and promises nothing it cannot keep.

Where does Hive fit?

Hive is the technology being built for EveryonesComputer, a shared computer for everyone. It is at the sign-up stage: nothing runs on contributors' machines yet. You can check what your machine could contribute on the HiveComputer home page.

Is volunteer computing safe?

It depends on the project. Run only software from a project you trust, check what it does, and make sure you can pause or remove it.

Does volunteer computing pay?

Usually not. Science projects like Folding@home rely on donated time. Hive does not pay contributors either.

Does it slow my computer down?

Well-built clients run only when the machine is idle and step aside when you use it, but they do use electricity while they run.