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SETI@home for Windows
February 2000
(c) SETI@home, UC Berkeley, 2000
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This document provides information on setting up and using
SETI@home. For an explanation of what you see on your
screen, and other information about SETI@home, visit our web
site: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
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How to use this document
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To view this file on-screen, maximize the window. To print
this document, open it in Notepad or another word processor,
go to the File menu, and click Print.
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Contents
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- Introduction
- Logging in to SETI@home
- Preferences
- The blinking icon
- Moving SETI@home's Data Files
- Removing SETI@home
- Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Please see the FAQ "Why are we requiring you to upgrade to
SETI@home 2.0?" at the end of this document.
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Introduction
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Thank you for installing SETI@home. With your help and the
help of hundreds of thousands of other computer users like
you, we increase the odds of detecting signs of intelligent
life elsewhere in the universe. This Help File explains how
SETI@home works, how to alter its settings, or how to remove
it from your computer.
SETI@home actually consists of two parts: an "application"
and a "screensaver". The application does all the work: it
downloads blocks of data through the Internet, performs the
number crunching on that data (looking for orderly patterns
that might be artificial), returns the results, and gets
another block of data. The application is represented by a
green radio telescope icon in the System Tray (normally at
the lower right of your screen). You can open the applica-
tion window by double-clicking on this icon, or right-clicking
on the icon and selecting Maximize from the popup menu..
The screensaver program runs when you haven't used your key-
board or mouse for a while. It displays color pictures
showing the data analysis process. Normally the application
processes data only when the screensaver is running.
Optionally, you can have the application process data all
the time.
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Logging in to SETI@home
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To use SETI@home you must create an "account" on the
SETI@home server. Your account is identified by your email
address. This lets us notify you in case you discover ET.
If you run SETI@home on several computers, they can all run
under the same account.
When you install SETI@home, you are asked whether you want
to create a new account or use an existing account. The
account is verified or created on our server at UC Berkeley,
and SETI@home will run under this account indefinitely. If
you want to switch to a different account, bring up the
application window, open the Settings menu, and select
Change/Create login. You will be shown the name of the
current account, and you can elect to switch to another
existing account or create a new account.
To switch to an existing account, you just type in the email
address. If you create a new account, you will be asked for
1. Name or nickname (handle)
2. Email address
3. Country
4. Postal code
5. Whether your computer is at school, work, or home
We will not give this information out to anyone. We use it
to get statistical information such as how many people in
country X are participating in SETI@home, how many users are
at school, etc. This information is on display at our Web
site, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu.
If you check the option to display your email address, your
email address might be shown on our web site if your screen
saver finds something interesting, or if you earn some other
mention, such as by crunching more data than any other user.
The default for this setting is to NOT provide your email
address. It's up to you. You can also decide whether to
have your name appear on the web site.
Windows lets you declare names and passwords for different
users on the same machine. However, changing your Windows
login doesn't affect SETI@home. If you want to change your
SETI@home login, you must use the Settings menu.
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Preferences
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SETI@home lets you express your preferences for when it does
data analysis, and when it makes network connections. You
are asked for your choices when you install SETI@home, but
you can change them later if you like. To do so, bring up
the application window, open the Settings menu, and select
Preferences.
There are three sets of preferences:
Data Analysis: either
- Data Analysis happens only when the screen saver is active
or application window is open, or
- Data Analysis always runs
If you select the first option, SETI@home won't use any of
your computer's processing power or memory when you're doing
your normal work. If you select the second option,
SETI@home will analyze data all the time. this uses about
15 MB of RAM and requires processing power, so we recommend
this only if your computer is fast and has lots of RAM. If
you try this setting and notice sluggish performance of
other programs, turn it off.
Network Connection: either
- Ask me before connecting to the Internet, or
- Connect automatically whenever needed
You can choose whether SETI@home should ask your permission
before setting up an Internet connection to the SETI@home
server. A connection to the SETI@home server is only neces-
sary when it's time to retrieve a new block of data. On a
typical Pentium-class computer, this will happen every one
or two days. Therefore, connection is not going to occur
very frequently, but still you may want to have the screen
saver alert you before doing so.
If you connect through a modem and your computer shares the
phone line with voice calls or a FAX machine, you'll prob-
ably want SETI@home to ask your permission before connecting
(otherwise it might try to dial while you are in a phone
conversation, which can be annoying). Choose the first
option in this case. The flashing SETI@home icon will alert
you when SETI@home wants to set up a connection.
The second option (connect automatically) makes sense if you
have a full-time Internet connection such as a Local Area
network (LAN), ASDL or Cable Modem service, or if you have a
dedicated dial-up phone line used only by the computer. This
allows SETI@home to be more productive. If you choose this,
don't be shocked when the modem suddenly begins to dial the
phone, seemingly out of nowhere. SETI@home probably just
needs more data to analyze.
If you choose "connect automatically" in SETI@home, and you have
a dial-up Internet connection (modem or ISDN), you must also
set your computer's Internet options to dial automatically.
If you have trouble with your Windows auto-dialing setup, select
"Ask me before connecting" in the SETI@home preferences. When
SETI@home needs to connect, first establish the Internet
connection manually before selecting "Connect Now" in SETI@home.
(To dial manually, select Start -> Programs -> Accessories ->
Dial-Up Networking, and double-click the desired connection.)
Please see the FAQ "How do I set up my computer to connect
automatically?" later in this document for more details.
Proxy Server:
For increased security, some organizations use an "HTTP proxy
server" and / or a "SOCKS proxy server" when connecting to the
Internet. If you are not sure whether you need to use a proxy
server from your computer, ask your network or system
administrator.
If your system does require an HTTP proxy for Internet access,
check the box labeled "Connect Via HTTP Proxy Server", and enter
its name and port number in the fields provided. When you enter
the proxy server's name, do not type the characters "http://" in
the edit text field.
The port number is usually 80. If your proxy server has a
different port number, enter it in the port number field. This
field accepts only numeric digits 0 - 9.
If your system requires a SOCKS proxy for Internet access, check
the box labeled "Connect Via SOCKS Proxy Server", and enter the
appropriate information, as specified by your system administator.
Please note: we spent a vast amount of time working on support
for people behind firewalls and various proxies (including both
socks and http). Despite this effort, many users may still be
unable to connect to SETI@home. In this case, please contact your
systems adminstrator or ISP and ask what kind of security
mechanisms may be blocking traffic to/from SETI@home and what
changes can be made in your system to solve the problem.
We have been able to program for most proxies that meet the
worldwide standards set by the Internet Engineering Task Force.
Some software companies sell proxy servers that use proprietary
protocols. Web browsers often have special proprietary code for
these proxies, which we were unable to implement.
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ScreenSaver Preferences
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In addition to the client preferences, you may want to change
the screensaver preferences. Select Start -> Settings ->
Control Panel. Open the Display control panel, then select
the Screen Saver tab.
If Setihome is not the current Screen Saver, select it from the
popup list. Set the amount of computer idle time before the
screensaver activates in the "Wait xx minutes" field.
Finally, press the Settings button to specify when and if the
screensaver will blank the display (SETI@home runs much faster
when the display is blanked).
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The Blinking Icon
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Sometimes you will notice that the SETI@home icon is blink-
ing. This means that your attention is needed. Double click
on the icon for instructions. There are several possibili-
ties:
- SETI@home needs to connect to the Internet, and is waiting
for your permission to do so. If you do not have your com-
puter set to dial automatically, you will have to dial manu-
ally (by running your Internet Dial-up connection for your
ISP) before telling SETI@home to go ahead.
- There is a new version of SETI@home that you can download
from our web site (http://setiathome.berkeley.edu).
- SETI@home has encountered an error that you can fix. For
example, you might be out of disk space. Delete some files,
then click on OK to have SETI@home continue.
- SETI@home has encountered an internal error. In some
cases you may be able to fix things by quitting the
SETI@home application (click the button in the upper right
corner of the application window) and starting it again. If
the same error occurs repeatedly, please report it to use
via our web site (http://setiathome.berkeley.edu; go to
"Software Download and Help").
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Moving SETI@home's Data Files
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Due to our new security measures to prevent falsified results,
it is best to treat all the data files as a unit. If for any
reason you must move or copy the data files, be sure to move
them all together. The files affected include key.sah,
state.sah, outfile.sah, result_header.sah, work_unit.sah and
result.sah (not all of these will exist at any one time).
You need not move user_info.sah, version.sah or
"SETI@home ReadMe" together with the others.
Some users download work units and return results from one
computer, but process different work units on different
machines, or save them for later processing on the same
computer. If the computers are all of the same type and are
all running the same version of SETI@home, then the procedure
above will work.
As an alternative, you may move only work_unit.sah or
result.sah between different computers running SETI@home. If
you move only work_unit.sah, SETI@home will delete and
reinitialize the other files, so the work unit will be
processed starting at the beginning.
If you move only result.sah to a different computer, that
SETI@home client will send the result to the serverr and
then continue processing of its work unit (if it has one).
IMPORTANT: Be sure to completely exit from SETI@home (by
right-clicking on its icon in the System Tray and selecting
Exit from the pop-up menu) before moving files. Selecting
Exit from the maximized application's File Menu or Close
Box does _not_ completely exit.
The SETI@home screensaver will automatically restart the
application when it kicks in, or you may restart it in the
usual way by double-clicking SETI@home.exe.
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Removing SETI@home
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Tired of looking for ET? Want to go back to flying toasters?
Is SETI@home causing problems, and want to turn it off?
Here are the three options you have:
- If you want to temporarily disable SETI@home until the
next time you start up, right click on the SETI@home icon
and select Exit. It will run again the next time you boot
up or the SETI@home screensaver runs. To run it manually,
click on Start / Programs / SETI@home.
- To select another screen saver. Click Start / Settings /
Control Panel / Display / Screen Saver. Choose a different
screen saver. If you have selected "Data analysis always
runs" in your Preferences, SETI@home will continue to work
in the background; otherwise it will run only when you bring
up the application window.
- To remove SETI@home from your computer and hard disk,
click Start / Settings / Control Panel. Then run Add/Remove
Programs, select SETI@home, and click the Add/Remove... but-
ton.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
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Q: How do I bring up the SETI@home application window?
A: Find the SETI@home icon in the Windows "system tray" and
double-click on it. The system tray is normally in the
lower right-hand corner of the screen. The SETI@home icon
looks like a green radio telescope dish. You can also
right-click on the icon and select "Maximize".
Q: Where is the SETI@home icon? I don't see it in the sys-
tem tray.
A: You may have exited from the SETI@home application by
accident. You can run it again by selecting Programs /
SETI@home from the Start menu.
Q: I don't see SETI@home in the Programs menu.
A: Install SETI@home again; download first if needed (from
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu).
Q: How do I set my default screen saver?
A: In the Control Panel, double click Display to bring up
the Display Properties dialog. Select the Screen Saver tab.
There you will see a list of available screen savers from
which to select. Note: SETI@home makes itself the default
screen saver when it runs for the first time after installa-
tion.
Q: Can I use Windows screen saver password protection with
SETI@home?
A: Yes.
Q: SETI@home was part way through processing a work unit,
but then progress reset to zero and it started again from
the beginning. What happened?
A: There are several possibilities. If you have SETI@home
set to connect automatically to the Internet, it may have
returned the result and gotten a new work unit. (If a
work unit has too much radio interference or RFI, then
SETI@home may request a new work unit much sooner than
usual.)
If SETI@home's processing was interrupted abnormally by
a system error or power interruption, its output files
may have been corrupted. In this case, SETI@home will
restart the work unit from zero automatically.
Q: How do I completely get rid of SETI@home?
A: In the Control Panel, go to the Add/Remove Programs dia-
log, and select SETI@home. Or you can select "Remove
SETI@home" in the Start/Programs/SETI@home menu.
Q: My PC has lots of RAM and a fast processor. Can I have
SETI@home run all of the time?
A: Yes. Bring up the SETI@home application window, and in
the Preferences dialog, select the checkbox "Data analysis
always runs."
Q: I'm running on a laptop and the installer hangs after I
choose the directory into which SETI@home is to be
installed. How do I fix this?
A: On a few laptops, the InstallShield setup program causes
a search for the floppy drive (drive A:), which takes a
minute or two if the drive is not connected. Wait a bit, and
the installer should recover.
Q: I've just downloaded a new work unit and the connection
to my Internet service provider has not been terminated.
Does SETI@home hang up the phone?
A: No. Windows automatically terminates your connection
after a period of inactivity. You can set the length of this
period in your Internet settings in the Control Panel. Your
ISP may also close the connection after a number of minutes.
Q: I'm running the screen saver: the left and right parts of
the display appear to be cut off. Why?
A: You are probably running your system with a display reso-
lution of 640x480. We now allow SETI@home to run in that
resolution; however, you will not be able to view the entire
display. We recommend display settings of at least 800x600.
You can change the settings for your computer in the Con-
trolPanel / Display dialog.
Q: I'm running on a dual processor Windows NT system, and
the graphics look "weird". How do I fix this?
A: You can fix the SETI@home behaviour by setting your sys-
tem to force SETI@home use 1 processor.
Q: I'm running on Windows 2000 Beta 3, and the screen saver
does not launch the client. Why?
A: We believe there is a bug in this beta version of the OS.
You can manually launch the client from the start menu. If
you "preview" the screen saver from the Display properties
dialog, it will also launch the client.
Q: Clicking on the SETI@home window's close box does not close the
application; this only minimizes it.
A: The green SETI@home radio telescope icon appears in the System
Tray only when SETI@home is running. So instead of exiting
SETI@home when it is not in use, we minimize it to keep the icon
available. Since it is easy to forget this rule and click the
close button on SETI@home's window, SETI@home treats its close
button as a Minimize button. SETI@home idles at low priority while
minimized, so it should not affect running other programs. If for
any reason you wish to completely close SETI@home, right-click on
the green icon in the System Tray and select Exit. The next time
the screensaver activates, it will relaunch SETI@home (if you have
selected SETI@home as the current screensaver).
Q: Sometimes I see a graph in the upper left portion of the window,
and other times it is not there. How come?
A: This feature was added in version 2.0. When SETI@home completes
each Fast Fourier Transform pass, it determines whether to do further
processing (Gaussian curve fitting). The new graph shows the results
of this curve fitting, but remains blank until data is found which
requires this additional calculation. During curve fitting, the
graph shows the current data being analyzed. At other times, it
shows the best Gaussian found so far for this work unit. For some
work units, the data will not merit any Gaussian curve fitting at all.
Q: I would like to save energy by allowing my hard disk to power
down. How can I get SETI@home to run without starting up the hard
drive?
A: You can use a RAM disk. For further information, please see our
web site's links page at http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/links.html.
You can also let your monitor go into low-energy mode, or even turn
your monitor off.
Q: I am having trouble connecting over the Internet. What do these
error numbers mean?
A: If you set "Ask me before connecting" in the Preferences dialog,
SETI@home will display more detailed information for many errors.
Q: Whenever SETI@home tries to connect to the server, it immediately
gets an error.
A: First, select "Proxy Settings" from the menu and check that they
are correct.
If that is not the problem, then try this: Set "Ask me before
connecting" in the SETI@home Preferences. Manually tell your
computer to dial the Internet. Then select "Connect Now" from the
SETI@home menu while your computer is connected to the Internet.
(To dial manually, select Start -> Programs -> Accessories ->
Dial-Up Networking, and double-click the desired connection.)
If this solves your problem, your computer's "Internet Options"
control panel may be incorrectly configured. Instructions for
setting this up are given under "How do I set up my computer to
connect automatically?".
If your PC does not have a relatively recent version of Internet
Explorer, you may not have the software needed for SETI@home to
be able to retry dialing your modem after a failure to connect.
IE versions 4 and later install the needed software; we have not
tested with older versions of IE. The needed file is
c:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\wininet.dll.
Q: How do I set up my computer to connect automatically?
A: For Windows 95 and 98, do the following steps:
1) From the Start button, select "Settings" and then "Control
Panels". Open the "Internet Options" Control Panel.
2) Select the "Connections" tab. Make sure the desired "Dial-up
networking" selection is set as the default. (The set default
button will be grayed out if you select the current default in the
list.)
3) Set "Always dial my default connection".
4) Select the correct "Dial-up networking" from the list, and click
on the "Settings..." button.
5) Another dialog box "xxxx Settings" appears. Press the
"Advanced" button.
6) The "Advanced Dial-Up" dialog will appear. Set "Disconnect if
idle for xx minutes" Set the disconnect delay to whatever number
you wish. If you wish, you may also set "Disconnect when conection
may be no longer needed."
7) Close the "Internet Options" Control Panel.
8) Double-click on "My Computer", and then on "Dial-Up Networking".
Double-click on the default "Dial-up networking" icon. Make sure
the "Save password" box is checked. even if you are not using a
password! If not already checked, check it and click on "Connect",
then "Cancel". Close the dialog.
For Windows NT do this:
1) Click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, and then
click Dial-Up Networking.
2) Click More, and then click User preferences.
3) In the Enable Auto-Dial By Location dialog box, select each
location for which you want the automatic dialing feature to
operate.
4) Click OK and then restart the computer.
Q: I see references to versions 1.07 and 1.7. What is the
difference?
A: The SETI@home version numbering system consists of two whole
numbers (integers) separated by a period. The part after the
period is not a fraction. The first number is the major version
number, the second is the minor version number.
Originally, we planned to call the versions 1.0, 1.1, ..., 1.9,
1.10, etc. But this caused confusion; for example, which version
is newer, 1.2 or 1.11? We felt it would help to include a
leading zero for minor versions less than 10, to emphasize that
version 1.02 is older than version 1.11.
Q: Why are we requiring you to upgrade to SETI@home 2.0?
A: Before answering this question, we want to say thank you to our
users (over a million of you!). You have made history with this,
the largest distributed computing project ever, with more
processing power than any supercomputer ever built.
Unfortunately, there are a few individuals who have caused us
problems. Some of them have been altering the data files to make
it appear that they have found the highest values, so they can see
their names on our web site. Not only is this fraudulent, but it
threatens the integrity of the project.
SETI@home is, after all, a scientific research project. While we
will eventually screen out bogus results by reprocessing the
interesting work units ourselves, this form of hacking hurts our
project in many ways.
In addition, some persons have altered the SETI@home client
software to use faster math routines. While their intentions may
be honorable (faster computing means more data processed), the
scientific integrity of this project requires that the same
processing be applied to all data uniformly. Since we can not
verify that the results of these altered versions match those of
the originals, they are a cause for significant concern.
Due to the actions of a tiny percentage of our users, we have been
forced to add protection against this sort of hacking. This is the
main reason we must refuse to send new work units to older versions
of the SETI@home clients.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but find this to be necessary
to protect the investment of you, our legitimate users in this
project.
Version 2.0 also fixes many bugs.
We understand that during the transition, there will be a heavy
load on our servers for downloading the new software. Please be
patient and keep trying; the quality of the science will greatly
benefit from the upgrade.