What is Propel Accelerator? How does it work? Additional Features Will Propel Accelerator work on my PC?

What is Propel Accelerator?

It's the fastest Web Accelerator on the market!

If you surf the Internet using a dial-up connection, you are painfully aware of how slow web pages load. Propel Accelerator allows you to dramatically increase your surfing speed. Pages that previously took almost 30 seconds to load, can now be viewed in less than 7 seconds, on average, and sometimes even faster.

Propel Accelerator is the next best thing to DSL, at a fraction of the price. Unlike costly and limited-availability broadband solutions, Propel Accelerator is:

• Available anywhere there is a telephone line.
• Requires NO new hardware.
• Is easy to install -- a few clicks will download it to your PC!

How does it work?

Propel Accelerator is designed to provide maximum acceleration for the Web sites you visit regularly. So, the more you surf, the faster your favorite pages will load!

Specifically, Propel Accelerator speeds up the delivery of Web pages four ways:

Compression
Propel Accelerator delivers text and graphics more efficiently, using a proprietary compression technology that significantly reduces the size of Web pages and page elements sent to your browser.

Caching
Propel Accelerator improves upon your browser's caching ability. Propel intelligently retains and reuses Web pages and page elements that have previously been sent to your PC. That's why the longer Propel Accelerator is in use on your PC, the faster your Web pages will load.

Persistent Connections
Propel Accelerator uses proprietary techniques to carefully manage and optimize the communication between your modem and our network of servers through a persistent connection. This eliminates the time wasted re-establishing and closing TCP/IP connections.
Optional Content Filtering. Propel Accelerator lets you block unsolicited content, such as pop-up ads and in page ads, which contributes to long wait times.

Optional Content Filtering
Propel Accelerator lets you block unsolicited content, such as pop-up ads and in page ads, which contributes to long wait times.

The table below shows some popular Web site pages and the range of acceleration you should expect to see from Propel Accelerator. These numbers were obtained using the Propel Accelerator Performance Test Tool.

*Average time calculated based on loading the home page. First time visit to a Web page loads on average 2 times faster. Subsequent visits to the page load, on average, 3 times faster.

An Example
An easy way to understand what Propel Accelerator does is to consider a simplified example.

Using maximum graphics acceleration, a first-time visit to a Web page with Propel Accelerator will be up to 3 times faster, with an average first-time visit greater than 2x.

For example, the first time you request the Amazon home page, the following events occur:

• The request for the Web page is automatically routed by the Propel Client to the NetGate Powered Propel Network.
• The NetGate Powered Propel Network retrieves the requested Web page from the Amazon Web site.
  
• Elements of the Web page (both text and graphics) are encoded and cached before being sent to your PC.
  
• These page elements are then decoded by the Propel Client, and assembled and delivered to the Web browser.

Subsequent visits to the same page will be up to 5 times faster.

The next time you visit the Amazon home page (which may have changed since the last visit), the following events occur:

• Your request for the Web page is automatically routed by the Propel Client to the NetGate Powered Propel Network.
  
• The NetGate Powered Propel Network retrieves the requested Web page from the Amazon Web site. Having identified the page elements that had previously been retrieved in a prior visit, the NetGate Powered Propel Network only compresses and transmits those components that changed.
  
• Data already stored on your PC - plus any new decoded page elements - are assembled locally by the Propel Client and delivered to the Web browser.

Additional Features

The Propel Accelerator also provides two additional key features to help make using the Internet more enjoyable. The Propel client provides you with a pop-up ad blocker to block pop-up and pop-under windows, and a download accelerator that will transparently accelerate downloads of most file types, including MP3s and executable files.

Pop-up windows
Propel Accelerator can block pop-up and pop-under windows that clutter your screen and slow down your surfing. You'll hear a noise and/or see an icon each time a pop-up has been blocked. It's easy to see a pop-up that was blocked, to allow some pop-ups to always be shown and to turn the feature on and off.

In-page ads
Propel Accelerator can block most advertisements that appear on web pages. When an ad is blocked, it is replaced with a light gray box on the web page, to make sure that web pages maintain their intended design. You can easily view blocked ads by right clicking on the gray box. As with pop-up blocking, you can turn this feature on and off any time you like.

Download Acceleration
Propel Accelerator will transparently accelerate downloads of most file types, including MP3s and executable files.

Propel Accelerator speeds up file downloads in three ways - by checking for file mirror sites, by segmenting files for parallel downloading if possible, and by retaining partially loaded file data across dropped connections. These are the same basic download acceleration techniques used by standalone download management utilities.

If a user's connection is dropped during a long download, when he or she reconnects and downloads the file again, Propel Accelerator will be able to make use of the previously downloaded portion of the file, and only download the remainder, as needed, provided that the user is downloading from servers that support partial downloads.

Will Propel Accelerator work on my PC?

Propel Accelerator has been through rigorous third-party testing* to ensure that:

• It runs on most Microsoft® Windows™-based PC systems, including virtually any PC purchased within the last 4 years. It does not in any way interfere with other software or applications that you use. Please check the requirements below to make sure your PC will work successfully with Propel Accelerator!
  
  
• It does not in any way interfere with other software or applications that you use.

Compatibility

Propel Accelerator works with most Microsoft® Windows™ -based personal
computers in use today, including virtually all PCs purchased within the last 4 years. See details below.