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2. Browsing the
Web with the accelerator
-
Browse the web as you normally would.
-
When finished, simply close your web browser,
as you normally would, and Bluebonnet Web Accelerator
will remain idle in your system tray.
- If you want to stop the application after browsing
select Stop Blue Accel from the pop-up menu,
or if you desire to exit the application completely,
click Exit from the pop-up menu.
3. Launching Bluebonnet
Web Accelerator
Bluebonnet 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 Bluebonnet Web Accelerator is not running and
you need to launch it manually, an icon titled "Bluebonnet
Accelerator" is located in the Windows Start Menu
under the Blue Accel folder (as shown below).
The Accelerator taskbar icon appears in the Windows
taskbar to you show you it is running.
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4. Accessing the User Interface
Once launched, Bluebonnet 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
Bluebonnet 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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5. Changing Username
and Password Information
Your username and password information is located
in the Connection Status dialog. To set your username
and password:
-
Right-click on the Bluebonnet Web Accelerator
taskbar icon and select "Settings..." from the
menu.
-
Click on the "Connection" tab.
-
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.
- To save your settings, press OK.
6. Changing the
Image Quality Setting
The image quality setting changes the quality of
images that appear in your Bluebonnet 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 Bluebonnet Web Accelerator
system tray icon.
-
Select "Settings...".
-
Select the "Image Quality" tab.
-
Use the slider bar to adjust the image quality
setting.
-
Press OK to save the settings.
7. 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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8. Changing the
Pop-Up Blocker Settings
Bluebonnet 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. Bluebonnet 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.
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9. Enabling and
Disabling the Pop-Up Blocker
-
Right-click on the Bluebonnet 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 disable the blocking of floating Flash advertisements,
uncheck "Block Floating Flash-Ads".
-
To disable all pop-up blocking for all sites,
uncheck "Enable PopUp Blocker".
- Press OK to save the settings.
10. Disabling the
Pop-Up Blocker for Specific Sites
-
Right-click on the Bluebonnet 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.
-
Use the "Add", "Remove" and "Remove All" buttons
to manipulate the White List.
- Press OK to save the settings.
11. Viewing the
Pop-Up Blocker Log
-
Right-click on the Bluebonnet 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".
12. 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.
13. Starting and
Stopping the accelerator software
When Bluebonnet 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 Bluebonnet Web Accelerator system
tray icon to access the pop-up menu. Select the menu
item "Stop Blue Accel".
The Bluebonnet system tray icon will now have an
"X" through it.
To Start:
If the accelerator is stopped and you want
to manually start, right-click on the Bluebonnet Web
Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up
menu. Select the menu item "Start Blue Accel".
The "X" through the Bluebonnet system tray icon will
disappear.
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14. Closing Bluebonnet
Web Accelerator
To close Bluebonnet Web Accelerator:
-
Right-click on the Bluebonnet Web Accelerator
system tray icon and select "Exit" from the pop-up
menu (see below). Bluebonnet Web Accelerator will
disconnect and close. Doing this will not close
any open browser windows.
Note: Bluebonnet Web Accelerator will automatically
launch again the next time you reboot your computer.
15. Bypassing
Bluebonnet Web Accelerator for Selected Sites
If you wish to bypass Bluebonnet 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:
-
If you have already defined a proxy exclusion
list in your web brower, select "Use browser's
proxy exclusion settings" to configure Bluebonnet
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 Bluebonnet Web Acceleration.
-
Stop and then start Bluebonnet Web Accelerator.
Note: In step 1, Netscape does
not support the wildcard (*) operator.
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16. Accelerating Email
Bluebonnet Web Accelerator can reduce the amount
of time it takes to send and receive email. Bluebonnet
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 Bluebonnet 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 "Email" tab.
-
Select "Enable for all applications".
- Press OK to save the settings. The changes will
take effect the next time Bluebonnet Web Accelerator
and your mail client are restarted.
17. View Your
Acceleration Statistics
You can view the acceleration statistics and how
they change dynamically using the Statistics dialog.
-
Click on the Bluebonnet 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
Bluebonnet 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.
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Original Data
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Size of the original (uncompressed) data.
|
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Actual Data
|
Amount of data sent by Bluebonnet Web Accelerator.
|
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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.
|
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Text-based
|
This row contains compression information
regarding text-based content.
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Graphics
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Contains compression information regarding
graphical content.
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Others
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Contains information regarding content
that is neither text nor graphical.
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Upstream
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Lists the total original and compressed
amounts of data uploaded.
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18. Accessing
Product Version Information
You may view the product version in the About dialog.
-
Right-click on the Bluebonnet Web Accelerator
taskbar icon to access the pop-up menu.
-
Select "About" to display the About dialog (see
below).
19. Updating Software
AutoUpdate will inform you of any major or minor
software upgrades to the Bluebonnet Service. By default,
you will be notified of all software upgrades.
If you want to manually update Bluebonnet Web Accelerator:
-
Open the "Settings" dialog.
-
Click on the "Update" tab.
-
Select "Update Now" to upgrade to the latest
version.
- Press OK to save the settings.
20. Uninstalling
Bluebonnet Web Accelerator
-
Under the Windows Control Panel, select "Add
or Remove Programs".
-
Select Bluebonnet Web Accelerator and click Remove.
- The uninstaller will launch and guide you through
the uninstallation procedure.
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