Internet acceleration
The lack of speed remains one of our biggest frustrations
when using the Net .
BRUCE DAVIS-GOFF tells us about software programs that promise to speed up
our online surfing.
http://netguide.co.nz/pulp/26/accelerate.html
Internet acceleration has little to do with the speed at which data moves
down your telephone line. That is dictated by your hardware and how many
kilobits per second it isimmediately set to work discovering fault capable of
pumping through. Most Internet accelerators behave as proxy servers, a sort of
software middleman between your browser and the Net. In other words, a software
accelerator is an active agent that intercepts and anticipates your requests for
pages and smartly manages when and from where the page is downloaded.
While adding extra steps to a download may seem illogical, it helps to
picture it like this; a benevolent neighbour overhears you ordering a delivery
pizza, has one in the oven he's been saving just for this occasion and
cheerfully tosses it over the fence. And when he gets really pro-active, he's
out shopping for things he thinks you might like later and storing them up. This
is called read-ahead caching and is foremost amongst techniques used to make the
whole Net experience happen faster.
Art of anticipation
The current crop of accelerators work mostly by employing read-ahead page
caching. Instead of having to retrieve a page from the often-distant server,
your browser gets it straight off your hard drive where it's been previously
stashed. Read-ahead page caching can be divided into two categories; link based
and history based.
Link-based accelerators can graze indiscriminately through the Net,
downloading pages you may never look at. While you've been reading the current
page, all the links on it can be sniffed out and downloaded in the background.
This equals instant display when you click on a link, assuming you've loitered
long enough for the background downloading to take place. Nothing has actually
run faster but your future requests have been anticipated and pre-emptively
fulfilled, thus the page load time appears faster when you click a link. This
sort of operation can keep a modem running flat out with continual page
requests. If everyone used one, the already congested Net would hit gridlock
pronto. For this reason, such programs are not recommended for those paying for
their data traffic by the megabyte.
History-based acceleration works more conservatively, by downloading only
pages you have previously visited or specified. This is like a supercharged
version of the usual Navigator or IE history cache, with an automatic update
scheduler and cache management tool thrown in. You won't see any speed increases
for random surfing, but pre-visited sites load rapidly. Creatures of habit will
benefit most from this sort of acceleration.
Peak Jet
Peak Jet was one of the first accelerators to hit the market and the latest
version is Peak Jet 2000, a link/history-based accelerator. It's not the most
Net-friendly product I've come across, mainly because it voraciously devours
links, eating up bandwidth and filling hard disk space as it goes. The default
settings do a fine job and it's very configurable. A floating button bar lets
you specify just how deep it plunders the Net and how often its cache is
refreshed. A useful page tracer acts like a smarter cache browser and there's
comprehensive online help available. It's the fastest and also the largest at
8Mb.
Price US$29.95 for Win 95/98/NT
Site
ftp://207.225.239.162/pub/pj2000w.exe
Net Accelerator
Net Accelerator features a dandy statistics display that reflects how much
faster you're surfing. It's not as configurable as Peak Jet but everything is
dealt with in one window, which makes things simpler. The program keeps your
favourites up to date automatically as well as chasing down links and
downloading them. Like Peak Jet, it features automatic browser recognition, but
speed wise is a few notches below it.
Price US$29.95 for Win 95/98/NT
Site ftp://207.181.222.17/download/na/NetAcc.exe
Netsonic
Netsonic is a freebie that lets you choose between history-based and
linked-based acceleration. The speed increase is comparable to Internet
Accelerator and the interface is even simpler. No bells and whistles here, just
a sturdy, simplistic accelerator that works well and is less than a megabyte in
size. Though this is freeware, a fully-fledged upgrade is available which has
offline browsing capabilities and modem optimisation through registry tweaking,
as well as other advanced features for US$29.95.
Price US$29.95 for Win 95/98/NT
Site www.webattack.com/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?dlnetsonic.shtml
Surf
Express
Surf Express is a history-based accelerator that intelligently caches and
updates sites you have visited or specified. One neat function is the ability to
execute a text string search on all the pages in the cache. Pre-loaded pages are
verified online to make sure they are current and the package features extensive
statistical reporting, whatever use that may be. It's very configurable in
respect to cache size and management, even for individual URLs. The deluxe
version includes Super Sonic Search, to search multiple search engines
simultaneously. Appreciable speed gains were evident for pre-visited sites and
users with slower modems (28.8K/33.6K) will get the most out of this program.
Price US$39.95 for WIN 95/98/NT; US$14.95 for upgrade
Site www.connectix.com/connect/files/SEDeluxedemo.exe
TurboExplorer
Another link-based accelerator with speeds gains somewhere between Peak Net and
Net Sonic. It's the only one of this bunch that includes a function for
filtering out Web graphics and Java Applets. Cache size and number of concurrent
page downloads can be set from the floating toolbar, which is actually the main
interface. Links can be dragged and dropped for background loading, and an
activity monitor can be run as a separate window, though this kind of
information is really of no interest when you're hard-core surfing.
Comparable with Net Sonic and Net Accelerator.
Price US$15 for Win 95/98/NT
Site
ftp:www.bevoni.com/pub/trexp203.zip
Other roads to faster surfing
DNS Caching
The Internet addressing protocol (IP) is numerical, so every time you type in a
textual URL, it has to be converted to its numerical equivalent. This is done by
sending a request to a DNS (dynamic name server), usually a machine run by your
ISP. It matches up the URL and returns the numerical address from its database
to your machine, which all takes time. The DNS at your service provider can't
possibly hold every URL's IP address, so it's linked to a global network of
DNSes. Thus the lookup can take even longer. DNS caching stores the numerical IP
address for your most frequently-used URLs locally, in what is called a hosts
file, thus saving a call to a server.
FastNet
99
FastNet makes IP address management easy, but unfortunately makes entering the
data into the cache unnecessarily hard. Strangely, it will import a history file
from Netscape but not Explorer, though bookmarks from both can be imported. Any
speed increase was lost on me but it takes the building of a comprehensive hosts
file before any gains could be expected.
Price freeware for Win 95/98/NT
Site
ftp://volftp.tin.it/pub/pc/windows/win98/progs/communications/internet/fastnet99.zip
Tweaking
MaxMTU, RWIN, TTL, STL, socketnum and maxsocket. Ha! If that doesn't mean a lot
to you, don't worry. They're among esoteric registry settings for both software
and hardware concerning dial-up networking (DUN) and the default values can be
changed with a resulting speed boost. Fooling around in the registry is a
dangerous game that is not recommended at all, even for the experienced. That's
why there's programs that aim to do it safely and automatically. It's also known
as modem optimisation.
TweakDun 2.22
TweakDun is a popular program that lets even beginners safely optimise their
registry settings without straying into the minefield that is the registry. It
also includes optional DNS caching. There's speed gains to be had here but
they're not as visible as those from your average read-ahead caching
accelerator.
Price US$15.00 for Win95/98/NT
Site
tucows.tierranet.com/adnload/dltweakdun.html
Net Optimiser
This program goes all the way it's a modem optimiser and connection
diagnostic tool. There's great statistical analysis of just what modem
throughput you're getting, and for the truly nervous, there's automatic
configuration. This is a good one for beginners with an auto-reset function in
case the manual changes you've made turn your whole setup to custard. The
included Modem Clinic can diagnose hardware problems and a troubleshooter does
the same for your dial-up connection. Very thorough.
Price US$39.95 for Win 95/98/NT
Site ftp://www.checkit.com/files/cnotrial.exe
Blockers
Blocking being the fine art of screening out pop-ups, ads, banners, cookies,
animations, graphics and even background music. It makes the Net a duller place,
but it sure speeds up page loading. The simplest form of blocking is already
available within your browser by turning off the graphics under Edit/Internet
Options or Edit/Preferences. If you're just browsing for information, using text
only is a good option, especially on a slower connection.
Intermute
A mute button for the Internet, get it? It screens out just about anything and
is customisable for individual sites and for advertisement strings within a URL.
It works with all browsers, including Opera and communicates with an online
database of sites that push ads, and automatically downloads an updated list to
block. If only television ads could be blocked like this.
Price US$19.95 for Win 95/98/NT
Site
www.intermute.com/images/iM-setup.exe
At the end of the day
The speed gain from read-ahead caching is undeniable. The ethics of using such
bandwidth-hungry software is questionable, though the arrival of high-speed
digital lines will probably render this a moot point. The true speed fiend will
relish the gains while the occasional user may not get so much out of it.
History based acceleration works for pre-visited sites but is useless for
random surfing It is though, a lot more Internet friendly. DNS caching, tweaking
and blocking can all contribute to faster surfing, though tweaking is the only
technique to speed up all Net services, the rest only work for http content.
Since the majority of these programs alter registry settings, it pays to
uninstall using the provided wizard or the control panel. Bear in mind that
you're adding an extra level of complexity to your browsing, both Surf Express
and Peak Jet can leave your browser unusable after a system crash for example.
Finally, these are interim software solutions that may not have any
relevance in a year's time. For now, though, they're the best way of squeezing
the most out of a dial-up account. Pedal to the metal.
Other acceleration software
Other Read Ahead
Cachers.
Blaze Web Performance Pack
Link-based, read-ahead caching, search functions and proprietary x-speed
technology for page streaming from servers supporting it.
ftp://ftp.asizip.com/pub/products/web/blazewppt.exe
LinkFox v99
Drag-and-drop background link downloader.
www.hageltech.com/download/lnkfox99.exe
MicroSurfer
v1.0
Drag-and-drop background link downloader.
ftp://ftp.magicbaby.com/pub/MicroSurfer100.exe
WebEarly
Link-based accelerator.
ftp://ftp.goto.fr/pub/webearly/uk/we180e32.exe
Java
Booster
History-based acceleration with Java applet caching.
ftp://brainlink.com/pub/users/wolfisg/javabooster/JB10e.zip
Got
It
Link-based/history-based accelerator. An award winner that is not for sale and
only available as a trial version. Go figure. ftp://ftp.zdnet.nis.newscorp.com/pub/private/sWlIB/internet/web_browsers/gotit.zip
DNS Caching
Net Speeder
www.webattack.com/cgi-bin/swcountdown.cgi?dlnetspeeder.shtml
SpeedyNet
www.webattack.com/cgi-bin/swcountdown.cgi?dlspeedy.shtml
Net Lightning
DNS caching and modem optimisation
www.clps.com/mknight/netlight20.zip
Tweakers
TwEaKy
www.direchat.com/homes/rambo-city/Tweaky.zip
Hagai's Boost
www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Station/4373/Programs/HagBoost.zip
SpeedNet
brock.iwz.com/programs/speedfull.zip
Easy MTU
members.tripod.com/~EasyMTU/easymtu.zip
TuneDUN
www.tangs.net/tunedun/TuneDUN210.zip
Blockers AdsOff!
www.intercantech.com/adsoff95.exe
Surf In Peace
iconlabs.net/downloads/sipfd.zip
@Guard
wrqdownload.wrq.com/techprev/atguard.exe
PopOff
ftp://ftp.ftpfiles.com/pub/ftpfiles/popoff95.exe
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