In brief: 1 gigabyte = 1024 * 1024 * 1024 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes 30 gigs + 2 gigs(survey) + 2 gigs(UD/Grid.org) * .75 (75% NNTP only access) = 40 gigs to your harddrive

Detailed explanation:

If you only download through the nntp server using a newsreader application without using our website, you will be able to download 40 gigs to your harddrive for every 30 gigs in your gig bank + the 4 gigs from participating in the UD/Grid.org program and taking the survey. Only 75% of the bytes you download off of the nntp server are counted in your download usage. Hence, if you download a 1 megabyte file to your harddrive from the NNTP server, then only 750 kilobytes of usage will show up for your account. Here's the math: One gigabyte is 1,073,741,824 bytes (1024 * 1024 * 1024) If you use nntp exclusively and download this much to your harddrive, 75% will be counted in your usage with our service, or .75 * 1073741824 = 805,306,368 = .75 gigabytes Your gig bank will always be increased by 30 gigs every month regardless, but doing the survey AND participating in the UD/Grid.org makes you eligible to ADD up to 4 extra gigabytes a month to your gig bank. This makes you eligible to essentially have a 40 gigabyte download limit per month doing the minimum of taking the surveys and only one installation(multiple installations on other computers can earn you more days of CPU time) of the UD/Grid.org setup.

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