idle cycles: cpuidle, cancer, and seti, etc.

["s369180" <yahoo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I remember the debate over the cancer and seti programs. I am sure
they are both noble causes and don't wish to open that can of worms.
I am sure that since many people run more than one networked pc, it
could be possible to run both programs over your network and benefit
both causes.

Other than the division they caused within the list, is there any
reason not to run something like this? It does seem silly the cpu
sitting there idle waiting for some HA command to appear. The only
downside I can think of is that presumably a busy cpu is hotter than
an idle one. Does the pc power consumption go up much running these
programs and is there much of a temperature rise risking shortening
the cpu life?

Do these programs like cpuidle work? I tried it with win98se but it
seemed to cause my system to crash. Am I right to think that NT and
2k have this built-in so do not need such programs?

Thanks