I am running Windows XP on a 2.8Ghz computer. Whenever I open up the BOINC program (even if it is already running), this error message pops up:

\"Failed to clean up Windows Socket Interface\".

Also, how long on average should Phase I take - my computer tells me that at the present rate it will take about 650 hours, and rising (not falling!)

The message is one that you will get if you try to open more than one instance of BOINC.

This may be happening if you are trying to open BOINC from a start or desktop icon when it is running already. There will be a little BOINC icon in the Windows taskbar; to open the BOINC window right click on that and select '<i>show</i>'.

It can also occur on startup because you have BOINC twice in startup folders - it could be in your own startup folder twice, or once there and once in the 'all users' folder.

650 hours does seem rather long for your machine - it should be nearer 400 hours. Tips are not to use the graphics or screensaver except when you are actually watching it, and not to have the BOINC window open in the work or disk tabs. If you are running more than one project, you should also set your preferences so that you keep the BOINC project in memory. But even so, the speed discrepancy seems surprising, and it may be a computer hardware configuration problem, for instance. If you ask, people can suggest the best way of comparing speeds of your machine with others.

&gt;Also, how long on average should Phase I take - my computer tells me that at the &gt;present rate it will take about 650 hours, and rising (not falling!)

This is the time to model completion, not phase 1 completion. As for Andrew's statement about 400 hours vs. 650 for you PC, that might well depend on what type of processor you have. 2.8 GHz could be a Celeron, or one of several P4's (which all would have different front side buses and/or memory speeds), or whether it is a laptop. If it was a 2.8 GHz Northwood P4 with 800 MHz front side bus and 400 MHz DDR memory, then 650 hrs would be too long. If it was one of the others I mentioned, then it might be alright.