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Using the SlipStream Web Accelerator | Windows
Requirements
This section will familiarize you with the features of
SlipStream Web Accelerator Version 3.1.
1. Using SlipStream Web Accelerator.
2. Advanced Options.
3. Uninstalling.
Need further assistance? Feel free to contact
us for product information or feedback.
Launching SlipStream Web Accelerator
SlipStream Web Accelerator launches automatically each
time you start Windows. It operates in the background to
accelerate your Internet connection. No user intervention
is required.
If SlipStream Web Accelerator is not running and you need
to launch it manually, an icon titled "SlipStream Web Accelerator" is
located in the Windows Start Menu under the SlipStream folder
(as shown below).
The SlipStream taskbar icon appears in the Windows taskbar
to you show you it is running.
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Accessing the User Interface
Once launched, SlipStream Web Accelerator will remain in
the system tray (as shown below). For the most part, during
web browsing there will be no need to access the user interface.
You can use the user interface to change settings, view connection
status or acceleration statistics.
To access the user interface features, click on the SlipStream
Web Accelerator icon in the system tray (shown above). A
pop-up menu will appear (shown below), providing access to
all the features of the product. Selecting and single-clicking
any of the menu items will access that particular feature.
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Setting Username and Password Information
You will not need to enter a username of password to use
the SlipStream client. You can leave these fields blank.
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Changing the Image Quality Setting
The image quality setting changes the quality of images
that appear in your SlipStream Web Accelerator. The higher
the quality you select, the longer it will take the image
to load. For slower Internet connections, it is recommended
that you lower your image quality. This slider can be adjusted
anytime while browsing.
You can easily obtain full image quality for a particular
image (described below), so don't be overly conservative
about lowering your image quality setting.
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon. See the user interface section
of the product guide if you are unsure how to do this.
- Select "Settings...".
- Select the "Image Quality" tab.
- Use the slider bar to adjust the image quality setting.
- Press OK to save the settings.
Getting Full Image Quality
Note: The following information applies only when browsing
with Internet Explorer.
While browsing, if you would like to request the full quality
image, simply right-click on the desired image from within
Internet Explorer and select "Show Original Image" from the
menu (shown below).
The full quality image will appear in place of the lower
quality image (shown below).
If you want to see the full quality version of all images
on the current page, simply right-click on any image from
within Internet Explorer and select "Show All Original Images" from
the menu (shown below).
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Changing the Pop-Up Blocker Settings
SlipStream Web Accelerator can prevent pop-up windows and
floating flash advertisements from appearing while you browse
the Internet. This behavior is enabled by default, and no
user-intervention is required. However, you can disable these
features at any time.
A limited number of web sites require pop-ups to function
correctly. SlipStream Web Accelerator allows you to specify
a "White List" of sites where pop-ups will not be blocked.
You can also see a list of all pop-ups that were blocked.
This information is useful if you suspect a web site is not
functioning properly because pop-ups are being blocked.
Enabling and Disabling the Pop-Up Blocker
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon. See the user
interface section of the product guide if you are unsure
how to do this.
- Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".
- Select the "Options" tab.
- To hear a beep whenever a pop-up is blocked, check "Notify
blocked pop-up by PC speaker beep".
- To enable the blocking of floating Flash advertisements,
check "Block Floating Flash-Ads".
- To disable all pop-up blocking for all sites, uncheck "Enable
PopUp Blocker".
- Press OK to save the settings.
Disabling the Pop-Up Blocker for Specific Sites
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon. See the user
interface section of the product guide if you are unsure
how to do this.
- Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".
- Select the "White List" tab.
se the "Add", "Remove" and "Remove All" buttons to manipulate
the White List.
ress OK to save the settings.
Viewing the Pop-Up Blocker Log
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon. See the user
interface section of the product guide if you are unsure
how to do this.
- Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".
- Select the "Logging" tab
- To add a web site to the "White List" so that pop-ups
are no longer blocked from that site, right-click on the
site and click "Add to Whitelist".
Adding Sites to the White List
You can add sites to the White List within the Pop-Up Blocker
dialogs, shown above, or from within Internet Explorer.
- Right-click on any text while browsing within Internet
Explorer.
- Select "Add to Whitelist" from the menu to add the current
site to the White List
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Blocking In-Page Advertisements
SlipStream Web Accelerator can block many graphical advertisements
that appear on various web pages (i.e. ad banners). Enabling
this feature will prevent these ads from being downloaded
and displayed in your browser, reducing download time.
Enabling and Disabling the Ad Blocker
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon. See the user
interface section of the product guide if you are unsure
how to do this.
- Select "Settings...".
- Select the "Features" tab.
- To enable ad blocking, check the "Block in-page advertisements" box.
To disable ad blocking, uncheck it.
- Press OK to save the settings.
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Starting and Stopping
When SlipStream Web Accelerator is launched it automatically
connects. Occasionally, you may need to stop or start manually.
To Stop:
If you are connected and you want to manually disconnect,
right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system tray
icon to access the pop-up menu. Select the menu item "Stop
SlipStream".
The SlipStream system tray icon will now have a red "X" through
it.
To Start:
If SlipStream is stopped and you want to manually
start, right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon to access the pop-up menu. Select the menu item "Start
SlipStream".
The red "X" through the SlipStream system tray icon will
disappear.
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Closing SlipStream Web Accelerator
To close SlipStream Web Accelerator:
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon and select "Exit" from the pop-up menu (see below).
SlipStream Web Accelerator will disconnect and close. Doing
this will not close any open browser windows
Note: SlipStream Web Accelerator will automatically launch
again the next time you reboot your computer.
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Changing Your Connection Settings
Normally, the connection settings that are set during installation
do not need to be changed. If, however, your ISP provides
new connection settings, you may change the preset ones using
the "Settings" dialog.
- Click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system tray
icon to access the pop-up menu.
- Select "Settings...".
- Click on the "Connection" tab.
- Change the "Remote Server Hostname" and "Server Port" to
the ones your ISP provided you. In most cases, it is unnecessary
to change the "Local Listening Port".
- Press "OK" to close the "Connection" dialog box.
- Press "OK" to save your new connection settings. These
settings will be used next time you connect with SlipStream
Web Accelerator.
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Bypassing SlipStream Web Accelerator
for Selected Sites
If you wish to bypass SlipStream Web Accelerator for certain
web sites (web sites on your local corporate intranet, for
instance), then simply select the "Features" tab on the "Settings" dialog
and click on "Proxy Exclusion" (see below). You have two
options for bypassing sites:
- If you have already defined a proxy exclusion list in your
web brower, select "Use browser's proxy exclusion settings" to
configure SlipStream Web Accelerator to exclude these sites
as well.
- You may also "Specify a proxy exclusion list" by selecting
this option. In the given text field, list all the web
sites, separated by semicolons, that you wish to bypass
SlipStream Web Acceleration.
- Stop and then start SlipStream Web Accelerator.
Note: Some versions of Netscape do not support
the wildcard (*) operator.
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Accelerating Email
SlipStream Web Accelerator can reduce the amount of time
it takes to send and receive email. SlipStream Web Accelerator
accelerates email transparently without any user intervention,
so you can use your mail program exactly as you normally
would. It is compatible with any POP3/SMTP client, including
Outlook Express, Eudora and Netscape Mail. Email acceleration
is disabled by default.
To enable email acceleration:
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system
tray icon. See the user
interface section of the product guide if you are unsure
how to do this.
- Select "Settings...".
- Select the "Features" tab
- Check "Enable SlipStream Email".
- Press OK to save the settings. The changes will take
effect the next time SlipStream Web Accelerator and your
mail client are restarted.
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View Your Acceleration Statistics
You can view the acceleration statistics and how they change
dynamically using the Statistics dialog.
- Click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator taskbar icon
to access the pop-up menu.
- Select "Statistics...", to display the Statistics summary
dialog.
- Click "Reset" to reset the statistics. You may do so
at anytime while browsing without affecting SlipStream
Web Accelerator's performance or operation.
- Click the "Details" button to view more detailed statistics
information (see below)
Consult the following table for a description
of the values.
Original
Data |
Size of the original (uncompressed)
data. |
Actual Data |
Amount of data sent by SlipStream
Web Accelerator. |
Savings
Ratio |
Factor of reduction in data. E.g.
A savings ratio of 4.00 means your connection is
4 times faster than a normal connection on average. |
Text-based |
This row contains compression
information regarding text-based content. |
Graphics |
Contains compression information
regarding graphical content. |
Others |
Contains information regarding
content that is neither text nor graphical. |
Upstream |
Lists the total original and compressed
amounts of data uploaded. |
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View SlipStream Web Accelerator's
Performance
You can view the accelerator's overall performance using
the Performance dialog.
- Click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator taskbar icon
to access the pop-up menu.
- Select "Performance...", to display the Performance
dialog.
- Click "Reset" to reset the statistics. You may do so
at anytime while browsing without affecting SlipStream
Web Accelerator's performance or operation.
From this screen you can view the size of the original
(uncompressed) data transferred through SlipStream, the actual
(compressed) size of the data, and your savings ratio. For
example, a savings ratio of 4.0 means your connection is
4 times faster than a normal connection on average.
Also on this screen are the speed of your connection and
the estimated amount of downloading/uploading time saved
by using the accelerator. Note that these two features are
only available when using a dial-up connection.
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Accessing Product Version Information
You may view the product version in the About dialog.
- Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator taskbar
icon to access the pop-up menu.
- Select "Help" > "About" to display the About dialog
(see below).
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Updating Software
AutoUpdate will inform you of any major or minor software
upgrades to the SlipStream Service. By default, you will
be notified of all software upgrades.
If you want to manually update SlipStream Web Accelerator:
- Open the "Settings" dialog.
- Click on the "Update" tab.
- Select "Update Now" to upgrade to the latest version.
Uninstalling SlipStream Web Accelerator
- Under the Windows Control Panel, select "Add or Remove
Programs".
- Select SlipStream Web Accelerator and click Remove.
- The uninstaller will launch and guide you through the
uninstallation procedure.
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