Welcome! Getting started with Hyperspeed Dialup
is easy and automatic. Following installation, the product is running and ready
to speed up your Internet experience.
If you are using a browser other than Internet Explorer, some additional
configuration is necessary. This Help file can help users of such
browsers get started with Hyperspeed Dialup. This Help file is
also useful if you have Internet connectivity problems after installing Hyperspeed Dialup.
Please note that most technical and other information about using Hyperspeed Dialup
is available online:
· Using Hyperspeed Dialup (online reference on product features and usage).
· Readme (primarily information on compatibility with other software products).
· Checking and Changing Proxy Settings for Netscape, Opera, and Mozilla
· Resolving Internet Access Difficulties
When you install Hyperspeed Dialup
it automatically becomes active. If you see an accelerator icon in your Windows
taskbar (near the system clock), Hyperspeed Dialup is active.
This icon:
- Tells you that Hyperspeed Dialup is running, ready to accelerate your Internet experience whenever you want to browse the web.
- Tells you the state of Hyperspeed Dialup on your system: enabled, disabled, actively browsing, not enabled due to a high-speed connection, or that the service is temporarily unavailable.
- Provides access to the Hyperspeed Dialup
menu.
If Hyperspeed Dialup is installed but you do not see the Hyperspeed Dialup
icon in the taskbar, it is not active and not accelerating your Internet
experience. You can make it active from the Windows Start menu:
Start
-> Programs -> {Hyperspeed Dialup program group} ->
Start Hyperspeed Dialup
Note: The online document Using Hyperspeed Dialup
provides a complete description of the Hyperspeed Dialup icon
and menu system. A brief description of the Hyperspeed Dialup
menu is in the following table, in case you are not online.
|
Menu item |
Purpose |
|
About Hyperspeed Dialup... |
Provides version information. |
|
Enable / Disable Hyperspeed Dialup |
Changes
the state of Hyperspeed Dialup from enabled to disabled (or
vice-versa). Use this to test the effectiveness of Hyperspeed Dialup
(try it with, then without). |
|
Performance Meter |
Provides information on the cumulative Web page access speed, both with and without Hyperspeed Dialup. After some use, you can also see the overall amount of time you saved during prior days of use of Hyperspeed Dialup. |
|
Options... |
Provides the ability to change the level of graphic compression used by Hyperspeed Dialup. Options also allows you to adjust the amount of disk space allocated to Hyperspeed Dialup. Several Advanced options are also available. |
|
Diagnostics... |
Provides the ability to view system information and to test your system's connectivity to the Internet. For details, see Checking Diagnostics. |
|
Quick Tour... |
Provides access to the Hyperspeed Dialup two-minute tour. |
|
Help.. |
Provides this local Help file. When you are connected to the Internet, additional information is available from the online reference Using Hyperspeed Dialup. |
The following table identifies Web browsers that you need to configure to use Hyperspeed Dialup. Click your browser for additional details about configuration, if necessary.
|
No Configuration Needed |
Minor Configuration Needed |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You should not need to make any changes to Internet Explorer. Simply start browsing. In the unlikely event that you do experience problems connecting to the Internet after installing Hyperspeed Dialup, Click Here.
Some changes to the Netscape
browser Preferences are required if you want to use Hyperspeed Dialup
with Netscape. See Checking and Changing
Proxy Settings for Netscape, Opera, and Mozilla for details.
You should be able to get an accelerated Internet experience through any modern browser. See the next section for detailed instructions.
Note: If you want to try Hyperspeed Dialup
without changing any proxy settings, you can use Hyperspeed Dialup
with Internet Explorer. No proxy changes are needed and Internet Explorer
should already be set up to work with Hyperspeed Dialup. There
are some additional graphic acceleration options available to Internet Explorer
users as well. You can continue to use your default browser, but until you set
the proxy address and port number, there is no acceleration.
Although Internet Explorer and
browsers based on it account for the great majority of browsers in use, there
are many other Web browsers. The most popular of these are Netscape, Opera, and
Mozilla.
If you are using a non-Internet Explorer browser, you need to change some
Preference settings in your browser. This is necessary because Hyperspeed Dialup
creates and uses what is called a proxy server on your computer to accelerate
web traffic to your computer. Changing preferences is a one-time activity that
only takes a couple of minutes.
By default, Hyperspeed Dialup
uses 8080 as its HTTP proxy port number. However, Hyperspeed Dialup
may automatically substitute another number if it detects a conflict. You can
also manually change the Hyperspeed Dialup proxy port number as
long as that number matches the HTTP port number in your browser.
Follow these steps to check or change the proxy port number that Hyperspeed Dialup
is using:
1. Click the accelerator icon in the taskbar, near the system clock.
2. Click Options.
3. Click Advanced.
4. Note the port number.
5. Optionally enter a different port number in the range of 1025-65535.
6. Click OK.
Note: The Advanced options choice of accelerating all connections or just connections without conflicts only applies to browsers based on Internet Explorer.
Next, you need to locate your
browser's configuration section (often called Preferences). For example,
Mozilla locates Preferences under the File menu. Then you want to
find the location where proxy settings can be adjusted.
The following instructions apply to Netscape. Proxy
configuration for Opera and Mozilla browsers is similar.
1. Click the Netscape Edit menu.
2. Select Preferences.
3. Click the mark next to the Advanced category or double-click Advanced.
4. Click Proxies.
5. Select the Manual proxy configuration button if it is not already selected.
6. Click View [Netscape 4.7 only].
7. In the HTTP Proxy area, enter localhost.
8. In the HTTP Port area, enter the Hyperspeed Dialup port number (by default this is 8080, but you should verify this number, as described previously).
Here are the specific instructions for resetting your proxy address and port
number using Netscape.
1. Click the Netscape Edit menu.
2. Select Preferences.
3. Click the mark next to the Advanced category or double-click Advanced.
4. Click Proxies.
5. If there was a proxy address in use prior to installing Hyperspeed Dialup, [Netscape 4.7 only: click View first] enter that address and port number. Otherwise, click Direct Connection to the Internet.
6. Click OK.
The changes are effective immediately.
Hyperspeed Dialup normally takes care of checking and changing Internet Explorer proxy settings for you. However, in rare cases, you may need to check or change Internet Explorer proxy settings as follows:
1. With the Hyperspeed Dialup running and enabled, click the Tools menu.
2. Select Internet Options.
3. Click the Connections tab.
4. Select the connection you are using and click Settings (if you are connecting via a Local Area Network, click the LAN Settings button).
5. In the Proxy Server section, select Use a proxy server for this connection.
6. Click Advanced in the same section.
7. Under HTTP:, set the proxy address to localhost.
8. Set the HTTP port number to the exact port number that Hyperspeed Dialup uses.
9. Click OK several times to exit the Tools menu.
The changes are effective
immediately.
Deciding Which Connections To Accelerate
In the Hyperspeed Dialup Advanced Settings window,
Internet connections with and without proxy setting conflicts appear. Two
options are available:
· Only accelerate connections without proxy conflicts
·
Accelerate
all connections
If you choose Accelerate all
connections, connections with potential conflicts are reconfigured to be
compatible with Hyperspeed Dialup. This means that the Hyperspeed Dialup
proxy settings are substituted for whatever settings may exist for that
connection.
Accelerating connections that have proxy conflicts may or may not work. Look at
the list of incompatible connections.
·
If
you are not using any connections identified as having potential conflicts with
Hyperspeed Dialup, choose the only accelerate connections
without proxy conflicts option.
·
If
you want to try accelerating connections that have proxy conflicts with Hyperspeed Dialup,
choose the Accelerate all connections option. If another software
program is using a proxy for acceleration or other such services, substituting
the Hyperspeed Dialup proxy settings may allow you to accelerate
your Internet experience.
Note: If your Internet connection is dependent on another proxy (such as
a firewall), accelerating that particular connection will probably not be
successful. (You can restore your Internet Explorer based system to the
previous proxy setting by selecting Stop Hyperspeed Dialup from
the Windows Start menu.)
Start
-> Programs -> { Hyperspeed Dialup program group} ->
Stop Hyperspeed Dialup
The following topics can help you if you temporarily lose the ability to browse the Internet after you install Hyperspeed Dialup:
·
Checking Your Internet Connection
Hyperspeed Dialup can only work when you are actively connected to the Internet. Here are some basics to consider:
·
Is
your modem on and ready? (If you are unsure, refer to your modem or system
manual.)
·
Has
your dial-up connection expired?
·
Are
you connected to Hyperspeed Dialup?
·
If
you are using Netscape, Mozilla, or Opera, is
your HTTP proxy set up to work with Hyperspeed Dialup?
·
Is Hyperspeed Dialup
connecting to the Internet?
·
Is
the particular site you are trying to view available?
Before concluding that you do not have Internet access, try accessing several web sites that you expect are nearly always available. Examples include: google.com, microsoft.com, amazon.com, or yahoo.com. If that is unsuccessful, you may want to disable Hyperspeed Dialup and try accessing these sites again.
Hyperspeed Dialup may not install if certain minimum requirements are not met. The following table shows suggested and minimum system requirements beyond the basics of a phone line, an analog modem, and an available and active Internet connection. The second column in the table suggests how to check your system. (As noted, many of these values are available from Hyperspeed Dialup Diagnostics.)
|
System Compatibilities and Requirements |
Specifics |
How to Check for Requirement |
|
Internet Service Provider (ISP) |
|
Ability to access the Internet through a browser prior to installation of Hyperspeed Dialup. |
|
Browsers |
Internet Explorer 5.0 or later |
Help -> About Internet Explorer |
|
|
Netscape 4.7 |
Help -> About Communicator |
|
|
Netscape 6.0 or later |
Help -> About Netscape |
|
Intel-based Pentium PC or the equivalent |
|
Click: |
|
Operating
system: |
Without Hyperspeed Dialup |
Click: |
|
|
With Hyperspeed Dialup |
< Hyperspeed Dialup
Diagnostics menu : Run |
|
Disk
space: |
Without Hyperspeed Dialup |
Click: |
|
|
With Hyperspeed Dialup |
Hyperspeed Dialup Diagnostics menu : Run |
|
System
memory (RAM:) |
Without Hyperspeed Dialup |
Click: |
|
|
With Hyperspeed Dialup |
Hyperspeed Dialup Diagnostics menu : Run |
|
Internet
connection line speed in Kbps (kilobits per second) |
Without Hyperspeed Dialup |
Several Web sites offer tests of Internet connectivity speeds. Here are two we recommend: · http://webservices.cnet.com/bandwidth · http://www.numion.com |
|
|
With Hyperspeed Dialup |
Diagnostic test 4 measures current effective line speed. Look for a value approximately between 14 and 400 Kbps. (Note: High-speed Internet connections (above 400 Kbps are not accelerated.) |
Diagnostics can help you identify
problems you may have with accessing the Internet when running Hyperspeed Dialup.
When running Diagnostics, make sure that you are not running any other Internet
processes (such as downloading a large file), as this will cause erroneous
results.
To start Diagnostics, follow these steps:
1. Click the Hyperspeed Dialup icon (the accelerator icon near the system clock).
2. Select the Diagnostics menu option.
3. Click Run.
An eight-part diagnostic test will
run. The Diagnostics dialog box displays the results of the tests as they run,
along with System Information. In all cases, if a test fails repeatedly and
there is no other specific remedy, contact your ISP or reseller for further
assistance.
Details of each diagnostic test follow:
1. Checking system resources. This test reports the amount of
available and used disk space and memory (RAM).
For disk space:
o Pass: Disk space is OK.
o Fail: Warning: We recommend that you have at least 256 MB free disk space to get the full benefit from Hyperspeed Dialup.
o Suggested action: Free some disk space on your system or consider obtaining a larger hard disk. (In some cases, defragmenting your hard disk can improve overall performance of applications, including Hyperspeed Dialup.)
For memory (RAM):
o Pass: RAM space is OK.
o Fail: Warning: We recommend that you have at least 8 MB free RAM space to get the full benefit from Hyperspeed Dialup.
o Suggested action: Run fewer programs or add more memory to your system. For optimal results, try running Hyperspeed Dialup with 32 MB or more available (free) RAM.
2. Testing basic Internet connectivity. This diagnostic tests your connection to the Internet and DNS (Domain Name System).
o Pass: Internet connectivity has been verified.
o Possible failure conditions:
- Test FAILED. Your Internet connection seems to be down. This message indicates an inability to establish a simple connection to any of a set of known good Internet addresses. Suggested action: See Checking Your Internet Connection.
- Test FAILED. Your Internet connection seems to be blocked from normal Web browsing. Your computer may be unable to access the Web if you are behind a firewall that requires you to access the Internet through a proxy server (sometimes used in corporate or educational firewalls). Suggested actions:
- If you have an available Internet connection that is not behind a firewall, switch to that connection and retry.
- If you have a personal firewall, disable it temporarily and retry. If that fixes the problem, you will probably be able to use the firewall in conjunction with Hyperspeed Dialup after identifying Hyperspeed Dialup to the firewall as a service that needs access to the Internet. Some firewalls allow you to enter the product name. See the documentation for the firewall you are using for details regarding allowing local services access to the Internet.
- Finally, if you are on a local area network (LAN) check your network configuration and/or contact your system administrator.
- Test FAILED. You may have a DNS problem. Please retry after a few minutes. DNS stands for Domain Name System. DNS allows you to access numeric Internet addresses using alphabetic addresses such as www.propel.com. Since DNS-related problems can be temporary, we suggest that you retry in few minutes.
3. Testing your Internet connection for packet loss. This test measures packets of data sent to and received by Hyperspeed Dialup in minimum, maximum, and average time (in milliseconds).
o Pass: Packets: Sent = NN, Received = NN, Lost = NN (NN% loss). An example message is: Sent = 20, Received = 20, Lost = 0 (0% loss). Significant packet loss represents either a problem connecting to Hyperspeed Dialup, Internet routing issues, or a modem/phone line problem.
o Fail: Packet loss test FAILED.
- 1-4 packets lost: It appears that there is occasional packet loss on your Internet connection. This level of packet loss, while not normal or optimal, usually does not have a significant impact to your Internet performance.
- 5-10 packets lost: It appears that there is intermittent packet loss on your Internet connection. This loss can be caused by a poor quality phone line, a bad connection, temporary problems with Hyperspeed Dialup, or temporary problems somewhere on the Internet. Try running Diagnostics several times. Lost network packets must be retransmitted and thereby cause degradation of your Internet performance. If the problem persists, try reconnecting to Hyperspeed Dialup.
- 10-19 packets lost: It appears that you have a bad connection to the Internet. The preceding comments listed under 5-10 packets lost apply.
- 20 packets lost: The packet loss test is not working properly. Either you have a very bad connection to the Internet or, more likely, Hyperspeed Dialup may be blocking the specific type of Internet activity that is used to measure packet loss. If Web browsing seems to be working normally, then you can probably ignore this result. If not, then most likely you have a bad connection and should try reconnecting to Hyperspeed Dialup.
o Further suggestions:
- Hyperspeed Dialup in general and Diagnostic results in particular can be affected by other running Internet processes such as file downloads, playing Internet radio or video, or file sharing. For maximum acceleration benefits, please consider temporarily eliminating these activities when using Hyperspeed Dialup, especially when running Diagnostics.
- If Hyperspeed Dialup provides more than one dial-up number in your area, try another number. This can often make a significant difference in terms of line quality and connection speed.
4. Determining current line speed. Hyperspeed Dialup sends some specific data to your system and measures the speed with which it was received. It reports the effective line speed in kilobits per second (Kbps).
o Pass: Measured speed in NN.NN Kbps. (Example: 33.43 Kbps)
o Fail: Line speed test FAILED.
Note: High-speed connections are not accelerated. If your actual line speed is
greater than 400 Kbps (a fast dial-up modem is 56 Kbps; often expressed as
56K), Hyperspeed Dialup will be automatically disabled.
Another reason why the line speed test might repeatedly fail is if content
filtering, parental controls, or a privacy manager is in place that restricts
access to the Network. See Readme for more
information.
Note that some ISPs pre-filter content in a
matter which could also cause this test to fail. Generally speaking, in the
U.S. pre-filtering is a service you would pay for and be aware of.
o Suggestion actions:
- If the test fails because you are on a high-speed connection, try again when you are connected via a slower (less than 400 Kbps) connection.
- If parental controls are in place, temporarily disable them to see if this is causing the problem.
- If a privacy manager or local firewall is in place, temporarily remove or disable it to see if this is causing the problem.
5. Looking for Hyperspeed Acceleration Service. This test attempts to locate the Hyperspeed Acceleration Service.
o Pass: Service found at rcluster-5.propel.com.
o Test FAILED. Problem locating Hyperspeed Acceleration Service
at rcluster-5.propel.com:7797. (Note: Hyperspeed Acceleration Service
uses port 7797 to access the Internet.) This
condition can occur if the Service is unavailable or if a firewall is
preventing your computer from accessing the Service.
o Suggested action: Retry in a few minutes; if problems continue, check (or ask your system administrator to check) to see if your local firewall is blocking Internet access through Port 7797.
6. Connecting to Hyperspeed Acceleration Service. This test verifies that the Hyperspeed Acceleration Service can successfully identify and communicate with your machine.
o Pass: Connecting to Hyperspeed Acceleration Service
using Client version (number) ee.ff.gg.hh. Connection accepted is
reported.
o Possible failure conditions:
- The authentication method used by
your ISP or reseller has not authenticated this computer to be accelerated.
Please contact your ISP or reseller.
- This diagnostics test uses web content that must be directly accessible to the PWAS server. An HTTP redirect to the content will cause this test to fail.
7. Advanced diagnostic tests, for use by your ISP or reseller if needed. This diagnostic performs text and graphics acceleration tests. All the tests involve sending data from the Hyperspeed Dialup Network to your system.
o Tests A-D send text data (words) to your system. Test A is with Hyperspeed Dialup active, Test B is without Hyperspeed Dialup active. These two tests are then repeated.
o Tests E-H send graphics data (an image file) to your system. Test E is with Hyperspeed Dialup active, Test F is without Hyperspeed Dialup active. These two tests are then repeated.
The system displays the time it takes to receive each test.
It is unusual for tests 1-6 to succeed and test 7 to fail. If this happens,
please run Diagnostics again before contacting your ISP or reseller.
8. Graphics Acceleration setting: n (1-5)
This test reports the level of
graphics acceleration you are currently receiving, with Level 5 representing
the maximum. You can adjust the level of graphics acceleration using the Hyperspeed Dialup
menu Options command. See Using Hyperspeed Dialup
(online reference) for details on adjusting graphics acceleration for
individual images, pages, and overall content.
If the steps above do not restore Internet access, do the following:
1. Click the Hyperspeed Dialup accelerator icon in the taskbar near the system clock.
2. Select Disable Hyperspeed Dialup.
When disabled, a red circle will appear over the Hyperspeed Dialup
icon.
3. Using your browser, go to a highly-available site such as
google.com, microsoft.com, amazon.com, or yahoo.com.
If you now have Internet access:
o Open the Hyperspeed Dialup menu by clicking the accelerator icon.
o Select Enable.
4. Try accessing another highly-available site. If the problem reappears
it is likely due to the presence of Hyperspeed Dialup. In this
case, you can activate Hyperspeed Dialup. From the Windows Start
menu find the Hyperspeed Dialup program (by default you will
find this in your Programs group, under Hyperspeed Dialup).
The sequence is:
Start
-> Programs -> { Hyperspeed Dialup program group} ->
Stop Hyperspeed Dialup
This Troubleshooting Guide
may help you resolve some of the more common problems that users encounter.
If
you see a box with a list of applications to open the file, it is possible that
the file extension .exe was somehow lost from the Hyperspeed Dialup
installation file. You can easily check and add the .exe if needed. Right-click
on the file and select rename to add the .exe file extension.
If
you do see it, you may have some firewall software running that prevents
Hyperspeed Dialup from loading until you register
Hyperspeed Dialup with the personal firewall software. Click Start,
then Programs to see if you have personal firewall software installed on your
system. Click Here for firewall configuration
instructions.
Internet Explorer
Netscape
.
·
Hyperspeed Dialup
was working, but the icon disappeared or acceleration stopped.
This
problem may be caused by several factors:
·
Graphics
appear degraded after I installed Hyperspeed Dialup.
Hyperspeed Dialup
accelerates the downloading of web page images by first pre-compressing the
graphics they contain. This is just one of many techniques that
Hyperspeed Dialup uses to improve web page load time. By default
graphic images are delivered to your web page in slightly compressed form that
balances speed of delivery with graphics quality. In some cases you may notice
a degraded graphic and want to see the original quality.
·
If
Diagnostics fail, send e-mail with the results to Customer Support.
·
If
you want to determine if other software on your PC is compatible with
Hyperspeed Dialup, click Here.
·
If
none of these topics apply, run Diagnostics and send an e-mail with the results
to Customer Support.
Please use our online
reference, Using Hyperspeed Dialup.
Every effort has been made to anticipate and answer your questions.
If you do not find the answer to your particular question, please contact your
ISP or reseller for further assistance.
Thank you for using Hyperspeed Dialup!
Propel,
Propel Acceleration ServiceTM, and the Propel logos are trademarks, and
Speed up Your Dial-upSM is a service mark of Propel Software
Corporation and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. Other trademarks
shown are the property of their respective owners.
Copyright 2002-04 Propel Software Corporation.
All rights reserved.