JOIN THE TEAM TODAY... HELP KILL ANOTHER COW-TEAM TOMORROW!

Q1: What do you mean kill another cow? I thought this team was trying to help crack the RSA's RC5-56bit key challenge.

A: Well with our group, a "cow kill" or as we frequently referred to it "bovine slaughter" is when we pass another RC5 cracking team in the overall rankings. We've been doing this quite regularly. With your additional cow-power added to our team we will be able to kill more.
Q2: cDc eh? Cool love you hacker boy types, can we help?

A: Actually we refer to ourselves as COTDC. We do actually have some former "cDc" members on our team, but our group has no official relation to them. In a technical sense they "cDc" are "Cult of the Dead Cow", while we "COTDC" are "Cult Of The Dead Cows". It was purely an accident in the similar names. When we first started, we thought a team name referencing our daily victims sounded cool.
Q3: I've been running the RC5 client on my own for XX days, and now I want to join you team. Can I transfer my "blocks" to your team?

A: Don't we wish. Early on in the "RC5-Bovine" project this might have been possible, but now that there are 10000+ active machines churning daily it would be a nightmare for someone to have to do this work. We do however give you full credit for your work you did before joining us.
Q4: Can I still keep my clients reporting to my current e-mail address and still join your team?

A: Actually no. We need you to change over all your PCs/workstations to point to "brian_stewart@pobox.com" in order for the blocks to count in our team totals.
Q5: I can't afford to run the program, I pay $XX per hour/month in internet fees, I'm not rich!

A: This is NOT necessary. You *ONLY* need to be connected to the internet to grab a chunk of blocks to work on, or when you are delivering them. The latests clients allow you to buffer 200 or 500 blocks at a time; for most computer this is several days worth.
Q6: Geez, electricity is expensive I don't want to leave my PC on all the time. If I turn it off have I just wasted my time?

A: No problem. Just run the client when your PC is on, the newer v2 clients automatically save their work/position when you quit/shutdown your system.
Q7: I have access to some internet connected PCs but they're not mine. Can I load them up and run the client invisibly?

A: Well yes, but we'd prefer you explain to them what we are doing. I'd hate to get some nasty e-mail from people wanting to know what this program was doing and what my email address was getting mailed. People may think it is a trojan program, or such. But if you do, let me know, I'll play "Mission: Impossible" and deny all knowledge of your existence if you are caught
Q8: Why should I join your team? I'm doing quite well by myself.

A: Exactly -- by yourself, kinda lonely at times. We have been pooling citizens like yourself into our group to show a better standing againt the big boys. Our group is the only NON-OS/NON-PLATFORM/NON-COLLEGE specific team in the TOP 25 (thats against 6000+ active teams!), and we'd like to stay that way with more individuals like yourself. We give FULL credit for your previously done work & as soon as IP/HOSTS stats are up we will be showing daily totals for all team members to see who is contributing the most. Also all team members get their lil'own web page.

Plus we have the coolest theme/team name of the entire effort!
Q9: Hey, what happens when the "COTDC" team finds the magic key? SHOW ME THE MONEY $$$$$

A: When I started this team it was decided that whichever team "member" finds the correct key-code will get $500 (of the total $1000). The remaining $500 will be split among the other "members". Each team member may coordinate with the Bovine admins to claim their prize or offer to donate it to a worthy cause. Most team members have their prize money distribution listed on their personal web page. With our effort EVERYONE is a winner, and heck, you might even get a few dollars for your effort. The vast majority of us are not in this for the money, but to prove that a publicly coordinated distributed effort can break what the U.S. Government says is "secure!" Of course, some of us are in it just to show that our computer system is faster than the next guys!
Q10: Okay got the client, got some blocks, my cow is crunching... anything special I need to do?

A: Double check to see that your client is reporting it's email/team/identity as "brian_stewart@pobox.com" , and make sure you have filled out the online application so that we can add you to our members listing.
Q11: I have a bunch of workstations that are NOT connected the internet, is there a way I can use them?

A: Sure. If your workstations are on a network you can have each machine run the program from a shared network drive and they will share the BUFF-IN.RC5 and BUFF-OUT.RC5 files.
If your PCs are not networked, you can buffer 200-500 blocks with your internet machine, shutdown the client, copy the BUFF-IN.RC5 and BOVINE client program to your other PC, start it up. Repeat process for each machine. Just reverse the process by copying the BUFF-OUT.RC5 files to the internet-capable PC when needed.
Q12: I still have more questions.

A: Check the official "RC5-Bovine" HelpFAQ pages, they are full of information and updated regularly. Check out the General FAQ , v2 client help , MAC OS/Client help , or just check out the main page for details. "RC5-Bovine" HQ is located at http://rc5.distributed.net

Please fill out our online application if you are interested in being part of the team. We *need* any computer that can run the RC5 decryption software, whether it be a 386sx-16, a Dual CPU Pentium Pro-250, or a 16-CPU 200mhz PowerPC...
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*Our team has no official relation to the "cDc", only a coincidental similarity in names.