How To Turn Your Computer Into A Passive Income Machine

In the past, I have written about turning your phone into a passive income machine and now I wanted to write a similar guide for computers. If you have any type of computer (e.g. desktop, laptop, mini computers) you can use it to generate some passive income by doing little more then just leaving it on. By installing a few programs you can use your computer to generate a steady flow of passive income. The following guide will help you get started and explain how to maximize your earnings.

Selling Extra Bandwidth

If your computer is connected to the internet and you have uncapped bandwidth then you can sell your extra bandwidth to other people and make money for every byte of data you sell. All you have to do is install the programs listed below and let them do all the work.

HoneyGain - You can install HoneyGain on a PC, Mac, or Android smartphone. The service allows you to run the program on up to two devices per network to maximize your earnings.

PacketStream - You can install PacketStream on PC, Mac, or Linux. However, you can only run the service on a single device. Running it on a second device will cut your earnings per device in half so you won't make any extra money.

Both of these services can be run simultaneously and will pay you about $0.10 per GB. The programs will monitor your current internet bandwidth usage and only run when there is extra bandwidth to sell.

Selling Extra Computing Power

Distributed programming, sometimes called swarm computing, is the process of splitting up a large computational task across thousands of different computers. The idea has become increasingly popular in recent years and now individuals can install a program to sell your computing power to buyers all over the world.

However, unlike the program that sells your bandwidth, you can only install one of these computing power-sharing programs at any one time. The reason is obvious, one of these programs will use all the excess computing power so there is nothing to gain from installing another. The one you should choose depends on the type of device you're running it on.

Kryptex - By far the best program to sell your extra computing power. The program is super easy to install and you can adjust how much computing power it sells. The interface is very intuitive and easy to understand.

LoadTeam - If you have an older computer or a computer without a GPU then you might want to use LoadTeam instead. The program only uses your CPU and is designed for older computers. It's also easy to set up and use so you don't need to have any technical background.

An important thing to remember is that you need to wait at least a month before you will see the full earning potentials of these services. The reason is they need to make sure you are a reliable source of computational power. If you keep your computer and the software running you'll start making a decent monthly income in no time.

Running AutoSurfers

An AutoSurfer is a little program that automatically visits random websites for a certain amount of time. The goal of an AutoSurfer is to drive unique traffic from around the world to a new website to help it increase its Alexa ranking.

You can leave the AutoSurfer running in the background while you are using your computer and it will slowly credit you points that you can then redeem for cash. To understand AutoSurfers I recommend checking out this guide that goes into depth about the process.

AutoSurfers won't make you as much as selling your computing power and internet bandwidth but it gives you another source of passive income.

How To Maximize Earnings

It is pretty easy to get started making money with these methods but once you have an initial set-up you can do a few things to help maximize your earnings.

Use Multiple Programs - You can run all the bandwidth sharing programs along with one of the computer power-sharing programs and a few AutoSurfers all at once. Running all of them helps you maximize your earnings.

Run Programs 24/7/365 - Your computer can only make money when it is turned on and running the programs. While you can use any computer to make you money, a great option is an old desktop that you can just set-up and forget out it.

Use Multiple Computers - Nothing is stopping you from having this passive income set up on multiple devices. You can set up multiple computers in your home or you can have them running at work, school, or anywhere else. This passive income method is scalable.

What About Electricity Cost?

Most people who hear about these methods are usually concerned about energy costs and losing money overall. While running a computer all day can increase your electricity cost you need to remember that computers don't use much electricity.

For example, if you pay about $0.10 kWh and your computer uses 100 watts you will spend about $0.24 a day, $7.305 a month, and $87.66 a year. This is assuming that you ONLY use your computer to run these programs. Even if that is the case your combined monthly earnings from all these methods will at least be $100 and will eclipse any increase in energy costs.

Take basic steps to reduce energy costs such as turning off your monitor and activate any energy savings functions your computer might have. In the end, it's up to you to decide if your earnings are worth the increase in energy costs. I recommend running these services for a month, calculating how much you made than making a judgment call of whether or not you want to continue.