Web Acceleration by SurfBoost 
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SurfBoost Usage Guide

Thank you for trying SurfBoost, the most advanced Internet accelerator. In most cases, using SurfBoost requires little or no user intervention. To benefit from some of the more advanced features, such as e-mail acceleration or pop-up ad block, some knowledge of SurfBoost's configuration and operational features is required.

This section will familiarize you with the features of SurfBoost Web Accelerator. Each mini-tutorial will open in a new window. Simply close the new window when you are finished.

1. Installation.

2. Using SurfBoost Web Accelerator.

3. Advanced Options.

4. Uninstalling.

Need further assistance? Feel free to contact us for product information or feedback.

Detailed Installation Instructions

The minimum system requirements are a Pentium 200MHz with 64MB RAM, and at least 5MB of hard-drive space. SurfBoost works with Internet Explorer 4.0 as well as Netscape Communicator 4.0 or any later releases of both browsers.

1. Download.

  1. Your ISP will provide you with a location to download the SurfBoost Web Accelerator installer.

  2. Download the installer to your desktop.

  3. Once the download has completed, proceed to Step 2.

2. Install.

  1. After downloading the SurfBoost Web Accelerator installer onto your Desktop, an icon as shown below will be on your Desktop. Double-clicking on the icon will launch the installer.

  2. The installer will guide you through the complete setup process.

3. Connect.

  1. As this is your first time launching the product, you will be prompted for a username and password. Enter the username and password provided to you by your ISP in the fields provided.

  2. Click OK. SurfBoost Web Accelerator will connect to your ISP.

  3. After installing SurfBoost Web Accelerator, an icon as shown below is placed in your system tray. Opening any web browser launches SurfBoost Web Accelerator.

4. Browse the Web.

  1. Browse the web as you normally would.

  2. When finished, simply close your web browser, as you normally would, and SurfBoost Web Accelerator will remain idle in your system tray.

  3. If you want to stop the application after browsing select Stop SurfBoost from the pop-up menu, or if you desire to exit the application completely, click Exit from the pop-up menu.

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Launching SurfBoost Web Accelerator

SurfBoost 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 SurfBoost Web Accelerator is not running and you need to launch it manually, an icon titled "SurfBoost Web Accelerator" is located in the Windows Start Menu under the SurfBoost folder (as shown below).

The SurfBoost task bar icon appears in the Windows task bar to you show you it is running.

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Accessing the User Interface

Once launched, SurfBoost 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 SurfBoost 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

Your username and password information is located in the Connection Status dialog. To set your username and password:

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator task bar icon and select "Settings..." from the menu.

  2. Click on the "Connection" tab.

  3. Enter your username and password in the fields provided. To avoid having to do this each time you connect, ensure that the "Save password" box is checked.

  4. To save your settings, press OK.

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Changing the Image Quality Setting

The image quality setting changes the quality of images that appear in your SurfBoost 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.

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon. See the product guide if you are unsure how to do this.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Image Quality" tab.

  4. Use the slider bar to adjust the image quality setting.

  5. 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

SurfBoost 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. SurfBoost 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

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon. See the user interface section of the product guide if you are unsure how to do this.

  2. Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".

  3. Select the "Options" tab.

  4. To hear a beep whenever a pop-up is blocked, check "Notify blocked pop-up by PC speaker beep".

  5. To disable the blocking of floating Flash advertisements, uncheck "Block Floating Flash-Ads".

  6. To disable all pop-up blocking for all sites, uncheck "Enable PopUp Blocker".

  7. Press OK to save the settings.

Disabling the Pop-Up Blocker for Specific Sites

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon. See the user interface section of the product guide if you are unsure how to do this.

  2. Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".

  3. Select the "White List" tab.

  4. Use the "Add", "Remove" and "Remove All" buttons to manipulate the White List.

  5. Press OK to save the settings.

Viewing the Pop-Up Blocker Log

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon. See the user interface section of the product guide if you are unsure how to do this.

  2. Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".

  3. Select the "Logging" tab.

  4. 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 White list".

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.

  1. Right-click on any text while browsing within Internet Explorer.

  2. Select "Add to White list" from the menu to add the current site to the White List.



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Blocking In-Page Advertisements

Surfboost 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 web browser. Thus, the Ad-Blocking feature will reduce the time that it takes to download web pages.

To enable or disable the Ad Blocker:

  1. Right-click on the Surfboost Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Settings...". Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select the "Features" tab.

  3. To enable ad blocking, check the "Ad-Blocking" box. To disable ad blocking, uncheck it.

  4. Press OK to save the settings.



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Starting and Stopping

When SurfBoost 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 SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu. Select the menu item "Stop SurfBoost".

The SurfBoost system tray icon will now have a red "X" through it.

To Start:

If SurfBoost is stopped and you want to manually start, right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu. Select the menu item "Start SurfBoost".

The red "X" through the SurfBoost system tray icon will disappear.


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Closing SurfBoost Web Accelerator

To close SurfBoost Web Accelerator:

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Exit" from the pop-up menu (see below). SurfBoost Web Accelerator will disconnect and close. Doing this will not close any open browser windows.

    Note: SurfBoost Web Accelerator will automatically launch again the next time you reboot your computer.

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Changing Your Settings from Surfboost Toolbar

There are two methods to access the Surfboost Web Accelerator menu. For previous versions, you can only access the menu by clicking the system tray. Starting from version 4, you can also access the menu from the Surfboost Toolbar for Internet Explorer.

To access the Surfboost Web Accelerator menu, simply click the arrow sign beside the Surfboost title on the toolbar and expand the menu items.



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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.

  1. Click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Click on the "Connection" tab.

  4. Press "Advanced...".

  5. 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".

  6. Press "OK" to close the "Connection" dialog box.

  7. Press "OK" to save your new connection settings. These settings will be used next time you connect with SurfBoost Web Accelerator.



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Bypassing SurfBoost Web Accelerator for Selected Sites

If you wish to bypass SurfBoost Web Accelerator for certain web sites (web sites on your local corporate intranet, for instance), then simply select the "Proxy Exclusion" tab on the " Settings" dialog (see below). You have two options for bypassing sites:

  1. If you have already defined a proxy exclusion list in your web browser, select "Use browser's proxy exclusion settings" to configure SurfBoost Web Accelerator to exclude these sites as well.

  2. 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 SurfBoost Web Acceleration.

  3. Stop and then start SurfBoost Web Accelerator.

Note:  In step 1, Netscape does not support the wildcard (*) operator.



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Accelerating Flash

Surfboost Web Accelerator can accelerate Flash files. The degree of compression is based on the Image Quality setting.

To enable Flash acceleration:

  1. Right-click on the Surfboost Web Accelerator system tray icon. Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Features" tab.

  4. Check "Macromedia Flash".

  5. Press OK to save the settings. The changes will take effect the next time that Surfboost Web Accelerator and your web browser are restarted.



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Accelerating FTP

Surfboost Web Accelerator now provides FTP acceleration. If this feature is enabled, both download and upload FTP traffic will be accelerated. FTP acceleration works with any FTP client that supports passive mode, including Internet Explorer, Cute FTP, WS_FTP and Smart FTP. Please make sure that the FTP transfer is in the passive mode. This can be set in your FTP application.

To enable FTP acceleration:

  1. Right-click on the Surfboost Web Accelerator system tray icon. Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Features" tab.

  4. Check "FTP (Passive)".

  5. Press OK to save the settings. The changes will take effect the next time that Surfboost Web Accelerator and your web browser are restarted.



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Accelerating Email

SurfBoost Web Accelerator can reduce the amount of time it takes to send and receive email. SurfBoost 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:

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator system tray icon. See the user interface section of the product guide if you are unsure how to do this.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Email" tab.

  4. Select "Enable for all applications".

  5. Press OK to save the settings. The changes will take effect the next time SurfBoost 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.

  1. Click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator task bar icon to access the pop-up menu.

  2. Select "Statistics...", to display the Statistics summary dialog.

  3. Click "Reset" to reset the statistics. You may do so at anytime while browsing without affecting SurfBoost Web Accelerator's performance or operation.

  4. 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 SurfBoost 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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Viewing Surfboost Web Accelerator's Performance

You can view your Surfboost Web Accelerator's overall performance using the Performance dialog.

  1. Click on the Surfboost Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

  2. Select "Performance..." to display the Performance dialog.

  3. Click "Reset" to reset the statistics. This can be done at anytime (even while browsing) without affecting Surfboost Web Accelerator's performance or operation.

From this screen you can view the size of the original (uncompressed) data transferred through Surfboost, the actual (compressed) size of the data, and your savings ratio. For example, a savings ratio of 4.00 means that the actual data that has been sent is 1/4 the size of the original data due to compression.

Also, this window displays the speed of your connection and the estimated amount of downloading/uploading time that has been saved by using Surfboost Web Accelerator. Note that these two features are only available when using a dial-up connection.



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Surfboost Web Accelerator's Privacy Manager

Surfboost Web Accelerator's Privacy Manager provides a safer and more secure browsing environment. It can clear the cache, cookies, and history in the Temporary Internet Files folder. This is the same as clearing Internet Explorer's cache and the cache of any web browser which uses the same cache folder.

  1. Right-click on the Surfboost Web Accelerator taskbar icon to access the pop-up menu.

  2. Select "Privacy Manager" to bring up the Privacy Manager dialog.

  3. Please check off the items you would like to clear. For example. If you want to clear the Internet Explorer's cache, please check the option "Delete all cached webpages and other Temporary Internet Files".

  4. Click on the "Run" button to start the actions. A dialog "The selected actions have completed successfully" will appear once all the items are deleted.

    Click on the "OK" button to close this window.

  5. Click on the "Close" button to exit the Privacy Manager dialog.



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Running Diagnostics Tool

If you contact your ISP for technical support, the support personnel may request that you send a diagnostics report to them. The diagnostics report contains system information, such as your Surfboost Web Accelerator settings and connectivity, which will allow your ISP to provide further assistance.

To create a diagnostics report:

  1. Right-click on the Surfboost Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

  2. Select "Help" > "Diagnostics" to display the Diagnostics dialog.

  3. Click on "Create Report".

  4. Launch your email application, compose an email, paste the results into the email (the results have already been copied to your clipboard), and send it to your ISP.



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Accessing Product Version Information

You may view the product version in the About dialog.

  1. Right-click on the SurfBoost Web Accelerator task bar icon to access the pop-up menu.

  2. Select "About" to display the About dialog (see below).



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Updating Software

Auto Update will inform you of any major or minor software upgrades to the SurfBoost Service. By default, you will be notified of all software upgrades.

If you want to manually update SurfBoost Web Accelerator:

  1. Open the "Settings" dialog.

  2. Click on the "Update" tab.

  3. Select "Update Now" to upgrade to the latest version.

  4. Press OK to save the settings.

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Uninstalling SurfBoost Web Accelerator

  1. Under the Windows Control Panel, select "Add or Remove Programs".

  2. Select SurfBoost Web Accelerator and click Remove.

  3. The uninstaller will launch and guide you through the uninstallation procedure.
 

 
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