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FAQ
1. Overview of BitWise Web Accelerator
2. Download and Installation Help
3. Using Web Accelerator
4. Product Details
5. Additional Assistance
Section 1 - Overview of Web Accelerator
How does Web Accelerator claim to be 5X faster?
Web page performance is measured by the amount of time it takes to download an
entire Web page into your browser. So, when comparing the performance
improvement delivered by Web Accelerator with an unaccelerated Internet
connection, we configure two identical computers. Both are connected to the
Internet at the same dial-up connection speed and both have the same PC and
Internet browser configuration.
Using an automated browsing measurement tool (i.e. a surfing "bot"),
both computers visit the same Web pages multiple times. In order to eliminate
variations in download speed caused by various network factors, we take the
average times for downloading the same page with and without Web
Accelerator and compare the two averages in order to determine the improvement
factor for a specific Web page (example: www.amazon.com). 5X represents the
high-end of the frequently measured averaged results.
If you are particularly interested in the topic of timing Web pages, here's a
link to a site that provides a stopwatch for timing page loads and many other
interesting Internet timing tools: http://www.numion.com/Stopwatch/index.html
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How does Web Accelerator's solution compare to DSL or cable
modem?
Web Accelerator is an affordable software-only solution designed to significantly
enhance Web access over low-speed (less than 200 kbps/second) connections. By
contrast, DSL and cable modems provide high-speed Internet connectivity using
hardware solutions that work with special telephone or cable lines.
The price for DSL or cable modem is significantly higher than Web
Accelerator. In addition to the higher price, many areas simply do not have DSL
or cable Internet service available.
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What are the privacy implications of using Web
Accelerator?
Personally-identifiable Information on Acceleration Servers
If you have a high level understanding of how Acceleration works you may
be concerned that the Accelerator could be used to track your browsing
activities in a way that could violate your privacy. We recognize that your
privacy is very important, and therefore we have implemented the Acceleration
Service so that personally-identifiable information cannot be
easily tracked or easily derived from data within our server infrastructure.
When your Accelerator client software connects to our infrastructure, it
identifies itself using a unique client ID. Our infrastructure has a database of
client IDs that are authorized to receive acceleration, but that database does
not contain any personally-identifiable information associated with the IDs,
such as your name, address, or email address. Further, we have designed all of
our server logging features in such a way that no single log contains a direct
record of the Web sites visited by specific clients. Personally-identifiable
information regarding browsing activities is subject to the Privacy Policy and
can be derived from information logged only by applying special
post-processing.
Accelerator Client/Server Communication
The Accelerator client software does not transmit any historical record
of your browsing activities to our servers other than non-user-identifiable
summary timing and compression information, and diagnostic information. Such
information is used solely for overall system performance monitoring and quality
assurance.
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Section 2 - Download and Installation Help
Why can't I open the Web Accelerator installation
file after I download it?
It is possible that the file extension ".exe" was somehow lost from
the Web Accelerator installation file. You can easily check and, if
necessary, remedy this situation. Here's how:
- First, find the installation file you downloaded. Unless you changed the
name during the installation process, search for that. Use the Window's
Start menu: Start -> Search -> For Files and Folders...
- When you find the file, select it. The full name of the file should be
visible.
- If the ".exe" extension (without quotation marks) is missing,
add it. Click on the filename and use your mouse to add the extension
".exe"
- You should be able to double-click on the file right in the Search Results
window to start the install.
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How long will it take to download Web Accelerator?
Depending on the speed of your modem and the processing speed of your computer,
downloading will take between 5-10 minutes. For example, a modem operating at
48kbps (kilobits per second) will download Web Accelerator in about 5
minutes using a recent-vintage computer. Running the install on your computer
takes a minute or less.
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Section 3 - Using the Web Accelerator
Is Web Accelerator installed, active, and enabled on your computer?
If Web Accelerator is installed and active on your computer a small accelerator
icon will appear in the Windows taskbar area (near the system clock) which simply
is a square with the Web Accelerator logo and a colored indicator bar
positioned across the bottom. If the Accelerator is active while you are surfing
the Internet, the accelerator icon will constantly change images. Try accessing
a Web site and you should see the indicator go yellow as web pages load. If
you are able to surf the Internet but do not see the icon changing, there are
several possibilities:
- You are accessing a Web site or other content that Web Accelerator
does not speed up. If you are not sure what content can be accelerated, Click
Here for details on what Web Accelerator does and does not
accelerate.
- Web Accelerator is currently disabled on your computer. If you see a red line
across the bottom of the icon, it means that Web Accelerator is disabled.
- Web Accelerator or other software on your system may require special
configuration. To review the list of currently incompatible software or
software that may require special handling, Click Here.
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How do I change the image quality setting for all images?
Right-click on the Web Accelerator taskbar icon (
by your clock) and select "Settings". Select the "Image
Quality" tab. Adjust the slider bar to the desired image quality
settings. Press OK to save the changes.
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How do I start Web Accelerator?
Web Accelerator is launched automatically every time Windows
starts. You do not have to launch it manually.
A Web Accelerator icon appears in the Windows system tray to show
that it is operating in the background. The icon is a black box with white letters and includes a red, yellow, or green indicator bar across the bottom.
If the program was terminated, you can start it up by going to your "Start
Menu" "Program Files" "SPEEDZILLA" and selecting the
program from there.
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How do I turn off the Pop-up Bocker?
Click on the accelerator icon in the taskbar, click on Pop-Up and disable
it. If you are going to websites that you need the windows to pop-up, you
could add them to the white list so you won't need to disable the pop-up blocker
every time you go there.
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How do I uninstall Web Accelerator?
Open the "Start Menu". Open "Settings". Open
"Control Panel". Finally open "Add/Remove Programs".
Looks for the Web Accelerator client and remove it from there.
IMPORTANT: If you are using a browser other than Internet Explorer or Netscape
with Web Accelerator, you will need to manually reconfigure the proxy settings for the
respective browser after uninstalling or stopping Web Accelerator in order
to continue using the Internet. See below for further details.
Restoring a Browser's Proxy Address and Port Number
If you are using a browser besides Internet Explorer or Netscape when you stop
or uninstall Web Accelerator you will need to reset proxy settings to
their original values (or no values). Until you do this, you will likely not
be able to access the Internet. Consult your browser's documentation for
information on how this could be done.
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How do I see the original graphic quality of specific
image or Web page?
If you are using Internet Explorer, simply move your mouse over an image on a
Web page and click the right mouse button. You'll see that two new options are
available:
Refresh Page with Full Quality.
Refresh Picture with Full Quality. When your mouse is over a graphic.
If you select one of these options, Web Accelerator will replace the
compressed graphic image with an original quality version. When the icon stops
changing, the new image is in place.
Note: When you first install Web Accelerator, it is necessary to close and
then restart IE in order to have the Refresh Page and Refresh Picture
right-click menu options available.
These menu options are not available in Netscape, Opera or Mozilla. Please
follow these steps.
1. Click on the Accelerator icon located near your system clock. Go to
Options and adjust the Graphics Acceleration Level completely to the right (original quality) and
click OK.
2. Hold down the Ctrl key and select R OR Select Reload from the View menu. The
compressed graphic image will be replaced with an original quality version.
3. Repeat step one and adjust the Graphics Acceleration Level back to its
setting.
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Section 4 - Product Details
How do I use other browsers with my Web Accelerator?
Netscape Navigator is automatically configured to use the Web
Accelerator. Use Netscape as you normally would.
For other browsers such as Opera and Mozilla, Web Accelerator works
with any web browser that allows you to specify an HTTP proxy. You must
set the HTTP proxy host to be "127.0.0.1" and the port number to be
the local listening port of the Web Accelerator Client (5400 by default).
Consult your browser's documentation for information on how this can be done.
What types of Web content does Web Accelerator accelerate?
Web Accelerator significantly speeds up web page access. To
achieve this speed up, proprietary lossless compression is applied to text,
html, xml, javascript and style sheets Proprietary image compression is
applied to gif images, jpeg images and Flash content.
Web Accelerator also accelerates email traffic (POP3 and SMTP) using lossless
compression.
Web Accelerator does NOT speed up file downloads (over FTP or file sharing
programs), streaming audio/video and HTTPS (secure web sites).
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Are ad blockers, popup stoppers, personal firewalls and other
utilities compatible with Web Accelerator?
Web Accelerator is compatible with most ad blockers, popup stoppers, personal
firewalls, and other utilities. In some cases, minor configuration either of
Web Accelerator or other products is needed. In other cases, Web Accelerator is not
compatible.
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Does Web Accelerator speed up email access?
Yes, Web Accelerator automatically accelerates your email traffic (POP3 and SMTP)
for all popular email clients such as Eudora, Outlook, Outlook Express and
Netscape Mail. Other email clients should work transparently as well.
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What are the system requirements for Web Accelerator?
System Requirements
Below, please find the suggested and minimum system requirements beyond the
basics of an analog modem, a telephone line, and an active Internet connection.
Web Accelerator can be installed on any of the following operating systems:
- Windows 98
- Windows 98SE
- Windows Millennium Edition (Windows ME)
- Windows 2000
- Windows XP
Web Accelerator requires at least Internet Explorer 4.0 and
Netscape 4.0 or any later version of either browser.
Note that the Web Accelerator Email Acceleration component requires Windows 98 and
above, and that the Web Accelerator Pop-up Blocker component requires Internet
Explorer 5.0 and above.
Newer versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer are available free of charge
through Microsoft.
For Windows 95 users: Currently, Microsoft does not permit Windows 95
users to install Internet Explorer 6 or greater, however, Internet Explorer 5.5
is available.
The recommended system requirements for Web Accelerator are a
Pentium 200MHz with 64MB of RAM and at least 5MB of hard-disk space.
Internet connection line speed in Kbps (kilobits/second)
Minimum: 14.4 Kbps
Maximum: 200 Kbps
Regardless, Web Accelerator will work within your current system
configuration to provide you with the best content acceleration.
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I travel. Does Web Accelerator work anywhere I use my
PC?
Yes. If you are accessing the Internet through a dial-up connection in the U.S.
and Canada and your system conforms to Web Accelerator system requirements
you should be able to get an accelerated Internet experience, if you are dialing
numbers from the same ISP.
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Section 5 - Additional Assistance
Contact Us
The most effective way to obtain technical or customer support is to first
review the 3 guides we have provided (FAQ, Troubelshooting, and Product Guide), which contains numerous
suggestions as well as instructions on sending vitally important Web
Accelerator diagnostic information.
If the guides do not answer your questions, the next effective
thing to do is to email our support at bwsupport@bwsys.net. Or call us 24 hours a day at 1-866-259-3319.
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