Options

The USA Choice SpeedSurf Options window has several tabs, including:

• Graphics and Ads
• Temporary Files
• Advanced

Graphics and Ads

USA Choice SpeedSurf accelerates downloads of web page images by first pre-compressing the graphics they contain.

By default, USA Choice SpeedSurf delivers graphic images to your web page in slightly compressed form that balances speed of delivery with graphics quality. This level of Acceleration is High, the third of the Graphic Image Acceleration options.

Following is a summary of all Graphic Image Acceleration Options:

Low acceleration. This setting maintains the original quality of the graphics on the web pages you view. You get good overall acceleration because USA Choice SpeedSurf speeds up text, HTML, and some graphics through a technique called lossless compression, but graphics acceleration will be limited to about 1.2X (20% improvement with no loss of quality).

Medium acceleration. At this setting you get better graphics acceleration (2.0X or 100% improvement) with minimal effect on the actual appearance of the image.

High acceleration. This setting has increased acceleration with slightly more image quality degradation. It has usable graphic setting of approximately 3.0X improvement.

Very High acceleration. This setting offers even more graphics compression (~6.0X).

Maximum acceleration. This is the maximum or fastest graphics acceleration setting. At this level, the typical web page with lots of graphics appears significantly faster than without USA Choice SpeedSurf. However, there is a trade-off in that most graphics are slightly fuzzy (~9.0X). In addition, some pages have functional graphic elements that can be affected by loss of color.

Note: At an acceleration level of Medium or higher, animated GIFs are disabled.

As you move the slider between the various graphic acceleration level options, you can see the three images changing. These changes reflect - in fact, they actually exaggerate - the effect graphics acceleration has on the images.

Viewing a Page With Different Graphics Acceleration Settings

If you are using a graphics acceleration option above Low Acceleration and you want to view the page at its original quality, change to the higher-quality setting in the Graphics tab by following these steps:

The images in the refreshed (or reloaded) URL reflect your new settings.

Note: The refresh option is ineffective on recently viewed pages. If you change the Graphic Image Acceleration setting and look at the pages again, the new setting does not affect those pages. For example, if you view Page A at Maximum acceleration, then switch to Medium acceleration, then view Page B, page B will be at Medium acceleration. However, if you then view Page A, only elements of the page that have changed since you last viewed it will appear at Medium acceleration.

Refreshing an Image or Page with Internet Explorer

If you are using Internet Explorer, there is a simple way to retrieve the original image or web page. Move your mouse over an image on a web page and click the right mouse button.

• Refresh Page with Full Quality. This option gets the full quality of the original images for the current page.
• Refresh Picture with Full Quality. This option is only available when your mouse is over a graphic. If you select this option, USA Choice SpeedSurf replaces the compressed graphic image with an original quality version. Depending on the size of the image, this may only take a few moments. When the USA Choice SpeedSurf icon arrows stop moving, the new image is in place. In many, but not all cases, the difference is noticeable.
  
  Note: When you first install USA Choice SpeedSurf, you must close and then restart Internet Explorer to have the Refresh Page and Refresh Picture right-click menu options available.

Blocking Ads

To prevents ads from appearing, select the check box labeled Block banner ads and other in-page advertisements.

Pop-up Windows Tab (Optional for Some Users)

The Block Pop-Up Window option prevents pop-up windows from appearing. Pop-up windows can either be commercial advertisements or expected content, such as a streaming video, side-bar information, interactive dialog (questionnaires or entry forms), and some e-mail, especially web-based e-mail.

Note: The blocking pop-up windows option compares the link that the user is clicking and the URL of the window being launched by the web site. If the URL is the same, then USA Choice SpeedSurf allows the pop-up window to appear. However, for some web-based e-mail, the Exchange Web Edition (e-mail server) uses JavaScript, which can interpret a false positive of links not equal to the URL of the window. Therefore, a web-based e-mail is not allowed to appear.

Don't Block Pop-up Windows. You can set USA Choice SpeedSurf to not block pop-up windows by selecting this option.

Block Pop-up Windows. To block pop-up windows, select this option. When activated, any blocked pop-up window will briefly appear as:

When you have Block Pop-up activated and you want to view any pop-ups from this web site in the future, use the right-click button to display the Allow pop-up from this site option.

The Allow pop-ups from this site option overrides the Block Pop-up feature for the current web site.

Another way to temporarily by-pass the Block Pop-up feature is to hold down the Control key (Ctrl) as you visit a web site that you know displays pop-up windows. If the content in the pop-up window is an advertisement, then a light-gray tint replaces the image.

Play a sound when a pop-up is blocked. Enabling this check box allows you to hear a sound every time a pop-up window is blocked. Once you have activated this option, you can choose between standard Windows sounds and custom sounds.

Recently Blocked Pop-ups. This list window shows all web sites, domains, and URL addresses of pop-ups that USA Choice SpeedSurf has blocked. You can perform certain operations on the list of blocked pop-ups, including:

• Show This Pop-up - After selecting a URL, click this button to launch a window to display it.
• Allow Pop-ups from This Site - After selecting a URL address, click this button to have USA Choice SpeedSurf not block pop-up windows from the domain of the selected URL.
• Clear Above List - This option clears the list of blocked pop-ups.
• Edit List of Allowed Pop-ups - When you click this button, the Allowed Pop-ups window appears.

The Allowed Pop-up window acts as a white list of acceptable web sites, domains, and URL addresses from which you allow pop-ups. You can manage this list by adding, replacing, and/or deleting items in the list.

Note: If you have another pop-up blocker application running on your system, you may not receive any additional benefit from the USA Choice SpeedSurf pop-up blocker.

Temporary Files Tab

This option allows you to change, at any time, the amount of disk space available for USA Choice SpeedSurf temporary files.

If you have sufficient free disk space, USA Choice SpeedSurf sets the default amount of disk space to 128 megabytes (MB). You can adjust this from a minimum of 20 MB up to a maximum amount allowed for your system.

If you generally visit five or fewer web sites daily, the minimum settings may be sufficient. If you are an active web surfer and regularly visit dozens or even hundreds of sites, a setting of at least 256 MB is advisable.

Delete Files. USA Choice SpeedSurf manages temporary files for you. However, a Delete Files button is available in case you want to manually remove the temporary REPLACE(USA Choice SpeedSurf) files stored on your system.

Note: Under normal operating conditions, there is no need for you to remove temporary USA Choice SpeedSurf files.

Advanced Tab

The following Advanced options are available:

Show Performance Summary Report. As a user of USA Choice SpeedSurf, you can, at your option, regularly get a summary of the level of acceleration you are receiving. Summaries appear at the conclusion of a given dial-up session in a message that briefly appears above the taskbar icon. You can adjust the frequency with which these messages appear, ranging from every time to never.

Port number. A proxy server is a technology that allows web content to be pre-processed by another application before being sent to your browser. A proxy server that runs on the same machine as the web browser is called a local proxy server. USA Choice SpeedSurf is based on proxy server technology. Since it runs on the same computer as your web browser, it qualifies as a local proxy server (sometimes called a client proxy).

Client proxies have an address and a port number. USA Choice SpeedSurf uses an address of localhost and a port number that is determined by REPLACE(USA Choice SpeedSurf); by default, port 8080 is used.

USA Choice SpeedSurf automatically chooses a different port number if there are conflicts with other network applications that you have running on your computer. Under most circumstances, there is no need for you to specify a different port number. However you can specify any available port number in the range of 1025-65535. If you change the port number REPLACE(USA Choice SpeedSurf) automatically restarts.

Note: If you are using Netscape, Opera, or Mozilla, see USA Choice SpeedSurf menu Help for additional details on setting, verifying, and removing proxy server settings.

Launch USA Choice SpeedSurf at startup. In the Advanced tab window, you can change a default setting that launches USA Choice SpeedSurf every time your system starts. This option is available in case of a need to isolate potential startup problems on your computer.

If you choose not to launch at startup, you can start USA Choice SpeedSurf from the Windows Start menu:

Programs -> {USA Choice SpeedSurf program group} -> Start USA Choice SpeedSurf

• Accelerate all connections
• Only accelerate connections without proxy conflicts

If you choose to accelerate all connections, all connections (including any with potential conflicts) are temporarily reconfigured to be compatible with USA Choice SpeedSurf. This means that the USA Choice SpeedSurf proxy settings are substituted for whatever settings may exist for that connection. Whenever you disable or exit REPLACE(USA Choice SpeedSurf), the original settings are restored.

Accelerating connections that have proxy conflicts may or may not work. A good approach is to look at the list of incompatible connections.

• If you are not using any connections identified as having potential conflicts with USA Choice SpeedSurf, choose the Only Accelerate Connections Without Proxy Conflicts option.
  
• If you want to try accelerating a connection that has proxy conflicts with USA Choice SpeedSurf, choose the Accelerate All Connections option. If another software program is using a proxy for acceleration or other such services, substituting the USA Choice SpeedSurf proxy settings may allow you to accelerate your Internet experience.
  
  However, if your Internet connection is dependent on another proxy (such as a firewall), accelerating that particular connection will most likely not succeed. (You can restore your system to the previous proxy setting by selecting Stop USA Choice SpeedSurf from the Windows Start menu.)
  
  

  Programs -> {USA Choice SpeedSurf program group} -> Stop Propel Accelerator