Like all BOINC projects, Rosetta@home runs in the background of the user's computer, using idle computer power, either at or before logging into an account on the host operating system. The program frees resources from the CPU as they are needed by other applications so that normal computer use is unaffected. Many program settings can be specified via user account preferences, including: the maximum percentage of CPU resources the program can use (to control power consumption or heat production from a computer running at sustained capacity), the times of day during which the program can run, and many more.