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How Fast is It? | What Gets Accelerated? | How Does it Work? | System Requirements
How Fast is It?
- Propel Accelerator 5 Advanced Image Compression delivers faster acceleration.
- Clearer and crisper graphics so you'll see even sharper images of the faster-delivered graphic.
- Enhanced text compression, providing smaller, faster, "lossless"
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What is lossless?
lossless = reconstructed exactly from the compressed data; the same as the
original compression of text and delivering additional acceleration.
With the Accelerator, Web pages load up to 5 times faster. The more you
visit specific Web sites, the better the performance you will receive.
Here is an example of tests we ran with and without Propel Accelerator:
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| Popular Web Sites |
*Before Propel® |
*With Propel |
How much Faster
with Propel? |
| Ebay |
11.65 seconds |
2.97 seconds |
3.92 X faster! |
| USA Today |
32.43 seconds |
3.77 seconds |
8.60 X faster! |
| Mapquest.com |
30.56 seconds |
5.01 seconds |
6.10 X faster! |
| Monster.com |
11.74 seconds |
3.04 seconds |
3.86 X faster! |
| CNN |
11.68 seconds |
2.26 seconds |
5.17 X faster! |
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*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.
As you can see here from the example displays below, web pages that previously took almost 30
seconds to load can now be viewed in less than 7 seconds (on average) and sometimes even faster.
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Most Web content will be accelerated, but there are certain exceptions:
 What will be accelerated |
 What stays the same |
| All text - HTML, markup, and javascript |
Secure pages, such as those used for online banking and credit card forms and pages accessed over VPN. Why this is actually a good thing.
Why doesn't Propel accelerate HTTPS?
Technically, to accelerate HTTPS it would have to be circumvented by actively breaking the protocols in use and spoofing the desired destination site. However, doing this would create a break in the security of the HTTPS protocol, potentially allowing the logging and clear text visibility of the user's private data, such as credit card numbers, PIN codes, and bank access information. Propel Accelerator does not accelerate HTTPS traffic because this level of security risk would be unacceptable to our end users.
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| Most graphics & photos - including jpeg and gif images |
Streaming media, and audio and video files
Why not compress streaming media?
Propel does not compress streaming media because video files and audio files delivered in the streaming format have already been compressed to the extent possible. To attempt further compression would degrade the streaming media past an acceptable level.
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| Most banner ads - including animated gif images and Macromedia Flash content |
Files downloaded outside your browser using ftp |
| All browser-based emails |
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| POP3 and IMAP protocol emails and attachments |
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| Outgoing SMTP email - especially acceleration of large messages with pictures or attachments including Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files |
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| MP3 files, executables & other files — when downloaded from within your Web browser (depending on the quality of your connection). |
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How Does it Work?
Propel Accelerator is designed to provide maximum acceleration for all Web sites and additional 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 five ways:
 Compression. Images and other graphic objects are compressed by removing some of the image detail. This results in dramatically smaller images that are delivered to your computer much quicker.
You may set your own default level of graphic compression through the Propel Icon Menu. You may also right click on any image or Web page and select the menu item to refresh in the image or Web page in full quality.
- Caching. Propel intelligently retains and reuses Web pages and page elements that have previously been sent to your desktop.
- Persistent Connections. Propel Accelerator optimizes the communication between your modem and our network of servers. This eliminates the time wasted re-establishing and closing TCP/IP connections.
- Chunk Encoding with Parallel Connections. When a user begins to download a file larger than 100KB, this feature downloads different segments of the same file from different locations.
- Optional Content Filtering. Propel Accelerator lets you block unsolicited content, such as pop-up ads and in-page ads. Blocking these ads causes Web pages to load faster.
- Pop-up Windows. (Windows Only). Propel Accelerator can block pop-up and pop-under windows that clutter your screen and slow down your surfing.
- 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.
Looking for more technical detail on how Propel Accelerator works? Please refer to our Technical Overview. It explains the various components and how they interact with one another.
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System Requirements Download Information
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Apple Macintosh |
Microsoft Windows |
Version:  |
5.0 |
5.0 |
| File size: |
2.4 MB |
2.4 MB |
| Download time: |
5 - 10 minutes |
5 - 10 minutes |
Compatibility
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Apple Macintosh |
Microsoft Windows |
| Platforms: |
OS X 10.2 and later |
Windows 98/NT 4.0/2000/ME/XP |
| Connections: |
Any low-speed Internet connection, including dial-up, ISDN, iDSL, DSL (under 400Kbps), and wireless.
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Any low-speed Internet connection, including dial-up, ISDN, iDSL, DSL (under 400Kbps), and wireless.
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| Browsers: |
Internet Explorer 5.2 and Safari 1.2 |
Internet Explorer 5.0 and later; Netscape 4.7 and later. Other browsers supported with additional configuration include Opera, Mozilla and Firefox |
System Requirements
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Apple Macintosh |
Microsoft Windows |
| Available Disk space: |
25 MB
(135 MB recommended) |
25 MB
(135 MB recommended) |
| Total System memory (RAM): |
128 MB
(256 MB highly recommended) |
32 MB
(64 MB highly recommended) |
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