This section will familiarize you with the
features of TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web
Accelerator.
1. Using TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web Accelerator.
- launching TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web Accelerator
- accessing the user interface
- setting username and password information
- changing image quality settings
- using the pop-up blocker settings
- blocking in-page advertisements
- starting and stopping
- closing TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web Accelerator
2. Advanced Options.
- changing your connection settings
- bypassing TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web Accelerator for selected sites
- accelerating email
- view your acceleration statistics
- view TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web Accelerator's performance
- accessing product version information
- changing autoupdate settings
3. Uninstalling.
- uninstalling TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web Accelerator
Need further assistance? Feel free to contact us for product information or feedback.
Launching TVCOnlineXL/SlipStream Web Accelerator
TVCOnlineXL/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 TVCOnlineXL/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.
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.
Setting Username and Password Information
Your username and password information is located in the Connection Status dialog. To set your username and password:
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Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator taskbar icon and select "Settings..." from the menu.
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Click on the "Connection" tab.
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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.
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To save your settings, press OK.
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.
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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.
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Select "Settings...".
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Select the "Image Quality" tab.
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Use the slider bar to adjust the image quality setting.
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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).
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
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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.
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Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".
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Select the "Options" tab.
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To hear a beep whenever a pop-up is blocked, check "Notify blocked pop-up by PC speaker beep".
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To enable the blocking of floating Flash advertisements, check "Block Floating Flash-Ads".
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To disable all pop-up blocking for all sites, uncheck "Enable PopUp Blocker".
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Press OK to save the settings.
Disabling the Pop-Up Blocker for Specific Sites
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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.
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Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".
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Select the "White List" tab.
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Use the "Add", "Remove" and "Remove All" buttons to manipulate the White List.
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Press OK to save the settings.
Viewing the Pop-Up Blocker Log
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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.
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Select "Pop-Up Blocker...".
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Select the "Logging" tab.
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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.
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Right-click on any text while browsing within Internet Explorer.
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Select "Add to Whitelist" from the menu to add the current site to the White List.
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
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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.
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Select "Settings...".
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Select the "Features" tab.
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To enable ad blocking, check the "Block in-page advertisements" box. To disable ad blocking, uncheck it.
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Press OK to save the settings.
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.
Closing SlipStream Web Accelerator
To close SlipStream Web Accelerator:
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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.
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.
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Click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.
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Select "Settings...".
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Click on the "Connection" tab.
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Press "Advanced...".
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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".
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Press "OK" to close the "Connection" dialog box.
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Press "OK" to save your new connection settings. These settings will be used next time you connect with SlipStream Web Accelerator.
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:
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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.
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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.
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Stop and then start SlipStream Web Accelerator.
Note: Some versions of Netscape do not support the wildcard (*) operator.
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:
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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.
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Select "Settings...".
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Select the "Features" tab.
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Check "Enable SlipStream Email".
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Press OK to save the settings. The changes will take effect the next time SlipStream Web Accelerator and your mail client are restarted.
View Your Acceleration Statistics
You can view the acceleration statistics and how they change dynamically using the Statistics dialog.
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Click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator taskbar icon to access the pop-up menu.
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Select "Statistics...", to display the Statistics summary dialog.
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Click "Reset" to reset the statistics. You may do so at anytime while browsing without affecting SlipStream Web Accelerator's performance or operation.
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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.
View SlipStream Web Accelerator's Performance
You can view the accelerator's overall performance using the Performance dialog.
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Click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator taskbar icon to access the pop-up menu.
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Select "Performance...", to display the Performance dialog.
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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.
Accessing Product Version Information
You may view the product version in the About dialog.
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Right-click on the SlipStream Web Accelerator taskbar icon to access the pop-up menu.
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Select "Help" > "About" to display the About dialog (see below).
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:
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Open the "Settings" dialog.
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Click on the "Update" tab.
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Select "Update Now" to upgrade to the latest version.
Uninstalling SlipStream Web Accelerator
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Under the Windows Control Panel, select "Add or Remove Programs".
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Select SlipStream Web Accelerator and click Remove.
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The uninstaller will launch and guide you through the uninstallation procedure.