E-Z Blaster FAQ's

1. Will E-Z Blaster speed up everything I do on the web?
E-Z Blaster accelerates certain text and graphics on web pages. With E-Z Blaster you will notice a significantly faster experience when you visit web sites, download your e-mail, read your e-mail on the Web, and perform many other Web-based activities. E-Z Blaster will not currently accelerate file downloads such as music files, streaming media.

2. How fast is E-Z Blaster?
The exact amount of acceleration can vary but with E-Z Blaster you will notice a significantly faster experience when you visit web sites, read your e-mail on the web, and perform many other web-based activities.

3. How reliable is E-Z Blaster?
With thousands of access numbers nationwide, E-Z Blaster makes it easy for you to get and stay online, with fewer busy signals and disconnects.

4. What other features does E-Z Blaster include?
E-Z Blaster offers easy-to-use, reliable Internet service with thousands of access numbers nationwide, feature-rich e-mail on the web, and instant messaging compatibility which allows you to chat with friends and family using Instant Messaging programs including AOL® Instant Messenger™, ICQ and Yahoo!®Messenger.

5. Will E-Z Blaster help with pop-ups?
E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator comes with a pop-up blocker included. Right click on the E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator taskbar icon and click on [Pop-Up Blocker...] and you can enable or disable the blocker. Web sites can be added to the [White List] to allow pop-ups from certain sites while still blocking others.

6. Will E-Z Blaster speed up my file downloads?
E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator is intended to speed up web surfing. Your file download speeds may be slightly increased but not significantly like the surfing speed is increased.

Download and Installation Help:

1. Where can I download the E-Z Blaster installer?
Once you have completed the sign-up process, you will be directed to a location to download the E-Z Blaster installer. Click sign-up to proceed to the download or contact Customer Service for further assistance.

2. I downloaded the E-Z Blaster installer but now I can't find it on my computer. Where is it?
Use the Windows Find tool located in the Start Menu to search for the file "filename.exe" (without quotes).
If you still can't find it, contact Customer Service.to re-download it and ensure that you save the file to your Desktop.

3. Does E-Z Blaster work on Macintosh or Linux operating systems?
Currently E-Z Blaster only works on Windows OS: Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, and the Macintosh OS X 10.2+

4. I get an error installing E-Z Blaster. It says e-mail acceleration has been disabled as another LSP was detected. What is it and what can I do?
Normally E-Z Blaster would simply avoid installing the e-mail acceleration, so as to not interfere with LSP operation of other applications. This can be caused by spyware/adware programs running on your computer.

If you'd like to find out what other applications are using the LSP layer, there are several freeware/shareware applications which can check this for you...
The following appears to be a popular choice:
http://www.seememe.com/diagnose.htm
If you are still experiencing problems installing, contact Customer Service for further assistance.

5. I'm having difficulty installing E-Z Blaster. Where can I get additional assistance?
Click here for detailed installation instructions. A full set of screenshots are provided to assist you with the installation procedure.
If you are still experiencing problems installing, contact Customer Service for further assistance.

Using E-Z Blaster:

1. How do I start E-Z Blaster?
E-Z Blaster is launched automatically every time Windows starts. You do not have to launch it manually. The E-Z Blaster icon appears in the Windows system tray to show that it is operating in the background.

2. How do I change the image quality setting for a particular image?
Right-clicking on an image within Internet Explorer and selecting "Show Original Image" allows you to view the original image.

3. How do I change the image quality setting for all images?
Right-click on the E-Z Blaster taskbar icon and select "Settings". Select the "Image Quality" tab. Adjust the slider bar to the desired image quality setting. Press OK to save the changes. Note: The higher quality the lower the savings in speed.

4. How can I tell if E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator is working and if so how good?
Hold your mouse over the E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator taskbar icon and you will see the savings. To see the totals right click on the E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator taskbar icon and click on [Statistics...] and get the totals and details of the original, actual and the savings ratio.

5. I have computers networked can I use E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator?
Yes E-Z Blaster will work but you will need a subscription to E-Z Blaster for each computer on the network. The software is a subscription based product and is charged based on number of users and not phone lines like a dial-up account. Contact us for pricing on multiple computers.

6. Can I have E-Z Blaster not work on a particular web site?
You can right click on the E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator taskbar icon and click on [Stop E-Z Blaster] and turn the web accelerator off.

7. Can I have E-Z Blaster not work on a particular web site all time without turning it off every time?
You can right click on the E-Z Blaster Web Accelerator taskbar icon and click on [Settings...] and click on the tab [Proxy Exclusion], be sure there is a dot in Specify a proxy exclusion list. Then type the web site address in the box, if more than one seperate the addresses with a semicolon [ ; ].

Using Other Web Browsers:

1. Can I use E-Z Blaster with Netscape Navigator?
Start Netscape Navigator and browse as you normally would. E-Z Blaster is launched automatically every time Windows starts. It operates in the background to accelerate your web connection. No user intervention is required.

2. Can I use E-Z Blaster with other browsers such as Opera or Mozilla?
Yes. E-Z Blaster works with any web browser that allows you to specify an HTTP proxy. You must set the HTTP proxy host to be "localhost" and the port number to be "5400" (without quotes). Consult your browser's documentation for additional information.

3. Does E-Z Blaster work with AOL?
Not if you use the AOL version 8 or higher browser. If you minimize the AOL browser and start up IE, you will see an improvement in your speed.

Product Details:

1. How do I use Internet Explorer with E-Z Blaster?
Start Internet Explorer and browse as you normally would. E-Z Blaster is launched automatically every time Windows starts. It operates in the background to accelerate your web connection. No user intervention is required.

2. Wherecan I get product information on how to use E-Z Blaster?
Click here to view the Product Guide.

3. Where do I go if I have problems with E-Z Blaster?
1. E-Z Blaster Product Guide.
2. Help (FAQ) Database.
3. Troubleshooting section.

4. Does E-Z Blaster speedup e-mail?
Yes the E-Z Blaster wil speed up the mail download in much the same way you surf the net yet your attachments are still full quality.

5. Does E-Z Blaster speedup my secure (HTTPS) transactions such as my web-banking?
E-Z Blaster does not accelerate secure transactions. Secure web sites will continue to work by bypassing the acceleration component.

6. What operating systems or platforms can E-Z Blaster be installed on?
E-Z Blaster can be installed on any of the following operating systems:
1. Windows 95b w/ Winsock2
2. Windows 98
3. Windows 98SE
4. Windows Millennium Edition (Windows ME)
5. Windows NT 4.0
6. Windows 2000
7. Windows XP
8. Windows Vista 9. Macintosh OS X 10.2+
E-Z Blaster works best with Internet Explorer 4.0 and Netscape 4.0 or any later version of either browser (Internet Explorer 5.0 is recommended).
Newer versions of Internet Explorer are available free of charge through Microsoft.
Note for Windows 95 users: Currently, Microsoft does not permit Windows 95 users to install Internet Explorer 6 or greater; however, Internet Explorer 5.5 is available.

7. What system requirements are necessary to use E-Z Blaster?
The recommended system requirements are a Pentium 200MHz with 64MB of RAM and at least 5 MB of hard-disk space.
Regardless, E-Z Blaster will work within your current system configuration to provide you with the best content acceleration.

Error Messages:

1. My username and password do not seem to work. How do I know I am using the correct ones?
The username and password that you enter into the software MUST BE the username and password that you receive when you download the accelerator software. This is the username and password provided by your ISP. Also be sure another computer is connected using E-Z Blaster and the same user name, only one computer can be connected at a time with a user name.

2. Why does it say "E-Z Blaster web accelerator detected another application using the HTTP listening port"?
This is often caused by switching users and not logging out. Make sure another user does not have E-Z Blaster running or re-boot the computer and that should solve the problem.

3. When trying to connect to E-Z BlasterService, I get the error message, "E-Z Blaster cannot connect to the E-Z Blaster Service..."
Here is a step-by-step list of things you should verify:

Check that you have successfully connected to your ISP in your usual manner (e.g. Did your dial-up connection successfully connect to your ISP?) This step is independent of whether or not you launch E-Z Blaster.
Ensure that the ISP that you are connected to is,in fact, the one that supplied you with the E-Z Blaster software and connection information. In most cases, you cannot connect to another ISP and use the same E-Z Blaster connection settings.
Verify that the Connection information located in the Settings dialog is the same as that provided to you by your ISP.
If you are running firewall software, make sure that a firewall rule is present that allows access to the Remote Server Port (located in the Settings dialog (7000 and 5400))
Try uninstalling E-Z Blaster (Control Panel-->Add/Remove Programs and select E-Z Blaster)and then re-install it.
Contact Customer Service to verify that the E-Z Blaster Service is up and running.

4. I receive the error, "E-Z Blaster cannot be started due to an internal error ..."
Here is a step-by-step list of things you should verify:

Try restarting your machine and launching E-Z Blaster.
If the problem persists contact Customer Service.

5. I receive the error, "E-Z Blaster was unable to load the sdicore.dll library.
The likely cause of this is that you accidentally deleted a file or resource required by E-Z Blaster. Fully uninstall and then re-install E-Z Blaster.

Known Issues:

1. Why does my downstream "Bandwidth Savings Ratio" appear to go below 1.0?
Accelerating your bandwidth channel incurs a small amount of transmission overhead. In most cases, this overhead is negligible when compared to the actual bandwidth savings provided by E-Z Blaster.

However, strange interactions between Internet Explorer and certain plugins (such as the old versions of the Adobe Acrobat Reader plugin) may cause documents to be unnecessarily downloaded twice. It is important to note that this type of behavior occurs regardless of whether E-Z Blaster is used. E-Z Blaster is merely showing the download statistics in these situations.

2. Why do some Java-applets (such as certain games on www.pogo.com) not work?
Older versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) cannot display certain image types (such as 'PNG'). To fix this problem, simply set your image slider to the maximum quality level or upgrade to the newest JRE.

Macintosh Accelerator Client Questions:

1.(Mac) Does the Accelerator support Internet Explorer?
When the Accelerator changes the HTTP proxy settings on the local computer, Safari will be automatically notified. However, proxy settings of Internet Explorer will not be changed automatically. As a result, IE continues to use the old settings.
Solution: Exit Internet Explorer then restart it if any of the following situations occurs:
1. With the Accelerator enabled, you can not observe any acceleration when using Internet Explorer.
2. If you can not browse with Internet Explorer after disabling the Accelerator. By terminating IE and then restarting it, IE is forced to re-read the HTTP proxy settings from the system preferences.

2. (Mac) Page cannot be displayed when the Accelerator is disabled.
This problem occurs because Internet Explorer can not recognize the new change of the proxy settings. Please see the question "Does the Accelerator support Internet Explorer?"

3. (Mac) Does the Macintosh client support email acceleration?
At this time the Macintosh client only accelerates HTTP traffic.

4. (Mac) Does the Macintosh client have a popup blocker?
Since popup blocking is built-in to the Safari web browser, the Accelerator client does not re-implement this functionality.

5. (Mac) I am unable to start the Accelerator.
Possible Causes:
1. Acceleration server may be down.
      Ensure that the acceleration server is up and running, or call your ISP to check.
2. Accelerator software may have become corrupted.
       Quit the Accelerator software and then reinstall it.
3. Another application is listening on the acceleration port (5400).
      Check for other software using the port and if needed change the port that the E-Z Blaster listens on.

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