This is another more detailed explanation about distributed computing... since our friend CrushedGuava dun really understand what i'm trying to say. So, I'll try my best to give it another shot.

So... let us go back to basic... so... basically, ur computer(processor) can do a lot of iteration of calculation every second... and if u are doing nothing with ur computer, or u are just performing simple task such as listening to mp3, typing an assignment, instant messaging, or even watching a movie, there's still a lot of unused cycles... in other words, ur cpu is not fully utilized.

So... instead of wasting it on useless flying windows or 3d-pipe or other screensavers, why not those power on performing calculations such as looking for Mersenne Prime, or folding protein.

Just to let u know, by combining thousands(actually millions) or personal computers' unused computing power, it can actually outperform the most powerful supercomputer... It's really THAT powerful...

So, do u want to be a part of such great contributions to science???

Go check out folding@home... and join the folding@Malaysia team...