The Help Desk - Technical Support Owl
Tech Support | Check Email Online | Member Services | Online Bill Pay | Services & Pricing | Community Info

Boreal's Help Desk provides answers to many technical issues as well as answers to commonly asked questions about our services.

Boreal Home Page
Area Guide
High-Speed Internet Options
Online Bill Payment
The Boreal Access Story
Support & FAQ's
Weather
Member Services
Community
Information
Education in the Forest
Policies and Pricing

Search the Boreal Forest
Type your search words

Boreal Web Accelerator Support Information

Boreal Web Accelerator User Guide 4.0

This section will familiarize you with the features of Boreal Web Accelerator Version 4.0 and later.

1. Using Boreal Web Accelerator

2. Advanced Options

3. Uninstalling.

 

Launching Boreal Web Accelerator

Boreal 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 Boreal Web Accelerator is not running and you need to launch it manually, an icon titled "Boreal Web Accelerator" is located in the Windows Start Menu under the Boreal Web Accelerator folder (as shown below).

If Boreal Web Accelerator is running, the Web Accelerator system tray icon will appear in the Windows system tray.



top

 

Accessing the User Interface

Once launched, the Web Accelerator icon will remain in the system tray (as shown below).

In general, there will be no need to change the settings during Web browsing. You can use the user interface to change settings, access the privacy manager, view the connection status, and check the acceleration statistics. To access the user interface features, click on the 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.



top

 

Setting the Username and Password Information

Your username and password information is located under the Connection tab. To set your username and password:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Settings..." from the menu.

  2. Click on the "Connection" tab.

  3. Enter your username and password in the fields provided. Remember that your username for the Web Accelerator includes @boreal.org. To avoid having to do this each time you connect, ensure that the "Save password" box is checked.

  4. To save your settings, press OK.



top

 

Changing the Image Quality Setting

The image quality setting changes the quality of images that appear in your Boreal Web Accelerator. The higher the quality you select, the longer it will take for 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.

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon. Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Image Quality" tab.

  4. Use the slider bar to adjust the image quality setting.

  5. Press OK to save the settings.


Getting Full Image Quality

Note: The following information applies only when browsing with Internet Explorer 5.0 or later, Firefox 1.0 or later, Mozilla 1.7.3 and later and Netscape 7.2.

If you would like to request the full quality image while browsing, simply right-click on the desired image from within your Web browser and select "Show Original Image" from the menu (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 your Web browser and select "Show All Original Images" from the menu (shown below).



top

 

Changing the Pop-Up Blocker Settings

Boreal 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. Boreal 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.

To enable or disable the Pop-Up Blocker:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Pop-Up Blocker...". Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select the "Options" tab.

  3. If you would like to be notified when a pop-up is being blocked, check "Notify blocked pop-up by PC speaker beep".

  4. To enable the blocking of floating Flash advertisements, check "Block Floating Flash-Ads".

  5. To disable pop-up blocking for all sites, uncheck "Enable PopUp Blocker".

  6. Press OK to save the settings.

To disable the Pop-Up Blocker for specific sites:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Pop-Up Blocker...". Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select the "White List" tab.

  3. Use the "Add", "Remove" and "Remove All" buttons to manipulate the White List.

  4. Press OK to save the settings.

To view the Pop-Up Blocker log:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Pop-Up Blocker...". Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select the "Logging" tab.

  3. 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".

To add sites to the White List:

You can add sites to the White List within the Pop-Up Blocker dialogs (which is shown above) or from within Internet Explorer.

  1. Right-click on any text while browsing within Internet Explorer.

  2. Select "Add to Whitelist" from the menu to add the current site to the White List.



top

 

Blocking In-Page Advertisements

Boreal 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 Web browser. Thus, the Ad-Blocking feature will reduce the time that it takes to download Web pages.

To enable or disable the Ad Blocker:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Settings...". Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select the "Features" tab.

  3. To enable ad blocking, check the "Ad-Blocking" box. To disable ad blocking, uncheck it.

  4. Press OK to save the settings.



top

 

Starting and Stopping Boreal Web Accelerator

When Boreal Web Accelerator is launched it automatically connects. Occasionally, you may need to stop or start the Web Accelerator manually.

Stopping Web Accelerator:

If you want to manually disconnect the Web Accelerator, right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu. Select the menu item "Stop Web Accelerator".

The icon that indicates the Web Accelerator is disabled will appear on the system tray.

Starting Web Accelerator:

If Boreal Web Accelerator is stopped and you want to start it manually, right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu. Select the menu item "Start Web Accelerator".

The icon that indicates the Web Accelerator is disabled will now be replaced with the enabled icon.



top

 

Closing Boreal Web Accelerator

To close Boreal Web Accelerator:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon and select "Exit" from the pop-up menu (see below). Boreal Web Accelerator will disconnect and close. Doing this will not close any open Web browser windows.

    Note: The Web Accelerator will automatically launch again the next time you reboot your computer.



top

 

 

Changing Your Connection Settings

Normally, the connection settings that are set during installation do not need to be changed. If Boreal Access provides new connection settings, you will have to change the preset ones using the "Settings..." dialog.

  1. Click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Click on the "Connection" tab.

  4. Click on "Advanced...".

  5. Change the "Remote Server Hostname" and "Server Port" to the ones that Boreal provided to you. In most cases, it is unnecessary to change the "Local Listening Port".

  6. Press "OK" to close the "Connection" dialog box.

  7. Press "OK" to save your new connection settings. These settings will be used next time you connect with Boreal Web Accelerator.



top

 

Bypassing Boreal Web Accelerator for Selected Sites

If you wish to bypass the Web Accelerator for certain Web sites (e.g. Web sites on your local corporate intranet), then simply select the "Features" tab on the "Settings..." dialog and click on "Proxy Exclusion" (see below). You have two options for bypassing sites:

  1. If you have already defined a proxy exclusion list in your Web browser, select "Use browser's proxy exclusion settings" to configure the Web Accelerator to exclude these sites as well.

  2. 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 Boreal Web Acceleration.

  3. Stop and then start the Web Accelerator.

Note:  Some versions of Netscape do not support the wildcard (*) operator.



top

 

Accelerating Flash

Boreal Web Accelerator can accelerate Flash files. The degree of compression is based on the Image Quality setting.

To enable Flash acceleration:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon. Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Features" tab.

  4. Check "Macromedia Flash".

  5. Press OK to save the settings. The changes will take effect the next time that Boreal Web Accelerator and your Web browser are restarted.



top

 

Accelerating FTP

Boreal Web Accelerator now provides FTP acceleration. If this feature is enabled, both download and upload FTP traffic will be accelerated. FTP acceleration works with any FTP client that supports passive mode, including Internet Explorer, Cute FTP, WS_FTP and Smart FTP. Please make sure that the FTP transfer is in the passive mode. This can be set in your FTP application.

To enable FTP acceleration:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon. Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Features" tab.

  4. Check "FTP (Passive)".

  5. Press OK to save the settings. The changes will take effect the next time that the Web Accelerator and your Web browser are restarted.



top

 

Accelerating Email

Boreal Web Accelerator can reduce the amount of time that it takes to send email. The Web Accelerator is compatible with Outlook Express, Eudora, Opera Mail, Pegasus and Netscape Mail. Since the Web Accelerator accelerates sending email automatically without any user intervention, you can use your mail program exactly as you normally would.
The Web Accelerator does not accelerate incoming or downloading email.

To change the email acceleration settings:

  1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon. Please refer to the user interface section of the product guide for detailed instructions.

  2. Select "Settings...".

  3. Select the "Features" tab.

  4. To enable/disable acceleration when sending email check/uncheck the "SMTP" option.



    5. top

     

    Viewing Your Acceleration Statistics

    You can view the acceleration statistics and how they change dynamically using the Statistics dialog.

    1. Click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

    2. Select "Statistics..." to display the Statistics summary dialog.

    3. Click "Reset" to reset the statistics. This can be done at anytime (even while browsing) without affecting the Web Accelerator's performance or operation.

    4. Click the "Details" button to view more detailed statistics (see below).

      The following table provides a description of the statistics that are displayed.

      Original Data

      Size of the original (uncompressed) data.

      Actual Data

      Amount of data that has been sent by Boreal Web Accelerator.

      Savings Ratio

      Factor of reduction in data. E.g. A savings ratio of 4.00 means that the actual data that has been sent is 1/4 the size of the original data due to compression.

      Text-based

      Statistics regarding compression of text-based content.

      Graphics

      Statistics regarding compression of graphical content.

      Others

      Statistics regarding compression of content that is neither text nor graphical.

      Upstream

      The total amount of original and compressed data uploaded.


    top

     

    Viewing Boreal Web Accelerator's Performance

    You can view your Web Accelerator's overall performance using the Performance dialog.

    1. Click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

    2. Select "Performance..."to display the Performance dialog.

    3. Click "Reset" to reset the statistics. This can be done at anytime (even while browsing) without affecting the Web Accelerator's performance or operation.

    From this screen you can view the size of the original (uncompressed) data transferred through Boreal, the actual (compressed) size of the data, and your savings ratio. For example, a savings ratio of 4.00 means that the actual data that has been sent is 1/4 the size of the original data due to compression.

    Also, this window displays the speed of your connection and the estimated amount of downloading/uploading time that has been saved by using the Web Accelerator. Note that these two features are only available when using a dial-up connection.



    top

    Boreal Web Accelerator's Privacy Manager

    Boreal Web Accelerator's Privacy Manager provides a safer and more secure browsing environment. It can clear the cache, cookies, and history in the Temporary Internet Files folder. This is the same as clearing Internet Explorer's cache and the cache of any Web browser which uses the same cache folder.

    1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator taskbar icon to access the pop-up menu.

    2. Select "Privacy Manager" to bring up the Privacy Manager dialog.

    3. Please check off the items you would like to clear. For example. If you want to clear the Internet Explorer's cache, please check the option "Delete all cached Webpages and other Temporary Internet Files".

    4. Click on the "Run" button to start the actions. A dialog "The selected actions have completed successfully" will appear once all the items are deleted.

      Click on the "OK" button to close this window.

    5. Click on the "Close" button to exit the Privacy Manager dialog.



    top

     

    Running Diagnostics Tool

    If you contact Boreal for technical support, the support personnel may request that you send a diagnostics report to them. The diagnostics report contains system information, such as your Boreal Web Accelerator settings and connectivity, which will allow Boreal to provide further assistance.

    To create a diagnostics report:

    1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

    2. Select "Help" > "Diagnostics" to display the Diagnostics dialog.

    3. Click on "Create Report".

    4. Launch your email application, compose an email, paste the results into the email (the results have already been copied to your clipboard), and send it to support@boreal.org.



    top

     

    Getting Technical Help

    To get more information on Boreal Web Accelerator and troubleshooting, please visit our support Website. You can access our support site by right clicking on the system tray icon and selecting "Help", "Support Website".



    top

     

    Accessing Product Version Information

    To view the product version information:

    1. Right-click on the Web Accelerator system tray icon to access the pop-up menu.

    2. Select "Help" > "About" to display the About dialog (see below).



    top

     

    Updating Your Software

    AutoUpdate will inform you of any major or minor software upgrades to the Boreal Service. By default, you will be notified of all software upgrades.

    To manually update Boreal Web Accelerator:

    1. Open the "Settings..." dialog.

    2. Click on the "Update" tab.

    3. Select "Update Now" to upgrade to the latest version.



    top

     

    Uninstalling Boreal Web Accelerator

    1. Under the Windows Control Panel, select "Add or Remove Programs".

    2. Select Boreal Web Accelerator and click Remove.

    3. The uninstaller will launch and guide you through the uninstallation procedure.



    top

     

    Boreal Web Accelerator Support


Home • Boreal Access • Calendar of Events • Weather • Classifieds • Community • Education • Help Desk • Search • Member Services • Area Guide

Contents © 2000 Boreal Access. All rights reserved.