The MCN Accelerator icon is always located to the right in the toolbar at the top of your window.

If you click on the Accelerator icon in the top menu to the right a menu will drop down.

In that drop down menu click "Off" if you want to turn the Accelerator off.

Click on MCN Accelerated Preferences and you'll have additional settings to change to your desired level of graphic compression.

Click on Setup and you'll be able to change how much cache you want to allot to holding Acceleration temporary internet files.

Performance Meter

The Performance Meter option helps you track the degree to which MCN Accelerator improves the performance of your Internet dial-up connection when accessing web pages or downloading email. If you leave the Performance Meter open while browsing, it updates in real time. The window displays the performance meter and associated information under two tabs: Acceleration and Data and Time Savings.

Acceleration Tab

• Connection speed without acceleration. MCN Accelerator keeps track of the average virtual speed-up you receive. The average speed is obtained by dividing the effective web access speed by the average physical connection speed.

• Effective speed for accelerated content. The effective web page access speed is based on the compression of text and graphics per page.

• Acceleration History. MCN Accelerator stores a history of acceleration factors for thirty days and maintains the history across sessions.

• Average Daily Peak: MCN Accelerator displays an Average Daily Peak of performance acceleration factors, computed from the peak values on each day in the thirty-day history, including the current day and session. Data and Time Savings Tab

• Savings for your most recent day of use: MCN Accelerator shows the savings for Web Text, Graphics, and Email by showing the original data size in megabytes, the compressed size in megabytes, and a savings ratio.

• Blocked in-page ads: Displays the number of in-page ads blocked by MCN Accelerator, if the client is using this feature.

• Pop-ups: Displays the number of pop-ups blocked by MCN Accelerator, if the client is using this feature.

• Download time savings MCN Accelerator Displays the actual download time with acceleration, the estimated download time without acceleration, and the estimated savings. Times are shown in hours, unless the actual accelerated download time is less than sixty minutes, in which case, all values are shown in minutes.

Reset Button

This button allows you to clear all underlying performance and compression data associated with this window. This data includes all the data stored for thirty days, plus the thirty most-recent page acceleration factors. Once cleared, the window shows no data.

Options

Options The MCN Accelerator Options window has several tabs, including:

• Graphics and Ads

• Pop-up Windows (Optional for some users)

• Temporary Files

• Advanced

Graphics and Ads

MCN Accelerator accelerates downloads of web page images by first pre-compressing the graphics they contain. By default, MCN Accelerator delivers compressed graphic images to your web page at the Very High acceleration level. Following is a summary of all Graphic Image Acceleration Options: Low acceleration. This setting maintains the original quality of the graphics on the web pages you view. You get good overall acceleration because MCN Accelerator speeds up text, HTML, and some graphics through a technique called lossless compression, but graphics acceleration will be limited to about 1.2X (20% improvement with no loss of quality).
Medium acceleration. At this setting you get better graphics acceleration (2.0X or 100% improvement) with minimal effect on the actual appearance of the image.

High acceleration. This setting has increased acceleration with slightly more image quality degradation. It has usable graphic setting of approximately 3.0X improvement.

Very High acceleration. This setting offers even more graphics compression (~6.0X).

Maximum acceleration. This is the maximum or fastest graphics acceleration setting. At this level, the typical web page with lots of graphics appears significantly faster than without MCN Accelerator. However, there is a trade-off in that most graphics are slightly fuzzy (~9.0X). In addition, some pages have functional graphic elements that can be affected by loss of color.

Note: At an acceleration level of Medium or higher, animated GIFs are disabled.

As you move the slider between the various graphic acceleration level options, you can see the three images changing. These changes reflect - in fact, they actually exaggerate - the effect graphics acceleration has on the images.

Viewing a Page With Different Graphics Acceleration Settings

If you are using a graphics acceleration option above Low Acceleration and you want to view the page at its original quality, change to the higher-quality setting in the Graphics tab by "refreshing" the page.

• In Windows hold down, on your keyboard, the Ctrl key and press the R key.

• In Macintosh hold down, on your keyboard, the Apple/Command key and press the R key.

The images in the refreshed (or reloaded) URL reflect your new settings.

Note: The refresh option is ineffective on recently viewed pages. If you change the Graphic Image Acceleration setting and look at the pages again, the new setting does not affect those pages. For example, if you view Page A at Maximum acceleration, then switch to Medium acceleration, then view Page B, page B will be at Medium acceleration. However, if you then view Page A, only elements of the page that have changed since you last viewed it will appear at Medium acceleration.

Refreshing an Image or Page with Internet Explorer

 If you are using Internet Explorer, there is a simple way to retrieve the original image or web page. Move your mouse over an image on a web page and click the right mouse button.

• Refresh Page with Full Quality. This option gets the full quality of the original images for the current page.

• Refresh Picture with Full Quality. This option is only available when your mouse is over a graphic. If you select this option, MCN Accelerator replaces the compressed graphic image with an original quality version. Depending on the size of the image, this may only take a few moments. When the MCN Accelerator icon arrows stop moving, the new image is in place. In many, but not all cases, the difference is noticeable.

Note: When you first install MCN Accelerator, you must close and then restart your computer to have the Refresh Page and Refresh Picture right-click menu options available.

Blocking Ads

To prevents ads from appearing, select the check box labeled Block banner ads and other in-page advertisements. Pop-up Windows Tab (Optional for Some Users) The Block Pop-Up Window option prevents pop-up windows from appearing. Pop-up windows can either be commercial advertisements or expected content, such as a streaming video, side-bar information, interactive dialog (questionnaires or entry forms), and some e-mail, especially web-based e-mail.

Note: The blocking pop-up windows option compares the link that the user is clicking and the URL of the window being launched by the web site. If the URL is the same, then MCN Accelerator allows the pop-up window to appear. However, for some web-based e-mail, the Exchange Web Edition (e-mail server) uses JavaScript, which can interpret a false positive of links not equal to the URL of the window. Therefore, a web-based e-mail is not allowed to appear.

Don't Block Pop-up Windows. You can set MCN Accelerator to not block pop-up windows by selecting this option.

Block Pop-up Windows. To block pop-up windows, select this option. When activated, any blocked pop-up window will briefly appear as:

When you have Block Pop-up activated and you want to view any pop-ups from this web site in the future, use the right-click button to display the Allow pop-up from this site option.

The Allow pop-ups from this site option overrides the Block Pop-up feature for the current web site.

Another way to temporarily by-pass the Block Pop-up feature is to hold down the Control key (Ctrl) as you visit a web site that you know displays pop-up windows. If the content in the pop-up window is an advertisement, then a light-gray tint replaces the image.

Play a sound when a pop-up is blocked. Enabling this check box allows you to hear a sound every time a pop-up window is blocked. Once you have activated this option, you can choose between standard Windows sounds and custom sounds.

Recently Blocked Pop-ups. This list window shows all web sites, domains, and URL addresses of pop-ups that MCN Accelerator has blocked. You can perform certain operations on the list of blocked pop-ups, including:

• Show This Pop-up - After selecting a URL, click this button to launch a window to display it.

• Allow Pop-ups from This Site - After selecting a URL address, click this button to have MCN Accelerator not block pop-up windows from the domain of the selected URL.

• Clear Above List - This option clears the list of blocked pop-ups.

• Edit List of Allowed Pop-ups - When you click this button, the Allowed Pop-ups window appears.

The Allowed Pop-up window acts as a white list of acceptable web sites, domains, and URL addresses from which you allow pop-ups. You can manage this list by adding, replacing, and/or deleting items in the list.

Note: If you have another pop-up blocker application running on your system, you may not receive any additional benefit from the MCN Accelerator pop-up blocker.

Temporary Files Tab

This option allows you to change, at any time, the amount of disk space available for MCN Accelerator temporary files.

If you have sufficient free disk space, MCN Accelerator sets the default amount of disk space to 128 megabytes (MB). You can adjust this from a minimum of 20 MB up to a maximum amount allowed for your system.

If you generally visit five or fewer web sites daily, the minimum settings may be sufficient. If you are an active web surfer and regularly visit dozens or even hundreds of sites, a setting of at least 256 MB is advisable.

Delete Files. MCN Accelerator manages temporary files for you. However, a Delete Files button is available in case you want to manually remove the temporary MCN Accelerator files stored on your system.

Note: Under normal operating conditions, there is no need for you to remove temporary MCN Accelerator files.

Advanced Tab

The following Advanced options are available:

Show Performance Summary Report. As a user of MCN Accelerator, you can, at your option, regularly get a summary of the level of acceleration you are receiving. Summaries appear at the conclusion of a given dial-up session in a message that briefly appears above the taskbar icon.
You can adjust the frequency with which these messages appear, ranging from every time to never.

Port number. A proxy server is a technology that allows web content to be pre-processed by another application before being sent to your browser. A proxy server that runs on the same machine as the web browser is called a local proxy server. MCN Accelerator is based on proxy server technology. Since it runs on the same computer as your web browser, it qualifies as a local proxy server (sometimes called a client proxy).

Client proxies have an address and a port number. MCN Accelerator uses an address of localhost and a port number that is determined by MCN Accelerator; by default, port 8080 is used.

MCN Acceleratorautomatically chooses a different port number if there are conflicts with other network applications that you have running on your computer. Under most circumstances, there is no need for you to specify a different port number. However you can specify any available port number in the range of 1025-65535. If you change the port number MCN Accelerator automatically restarts.

Note: If you are using Netscape, Opera, or Mozilla, see MCN Accelerator menu Help for additional details on setting, verifying, and removing proxy server settings.

Launch MCN Accelerator at startup. In the Advanced tab window, you can change a default setting that launches MCN Accelerator every time your system starts. This option is available in case of a need to isolate potential startup problems on your computer.

If you choose not to launch at startup, you can start MCN Accelerator from the Windows Start menu:
Programs -> MCN Accelerator -> Start MCN Accelerator

In the Advanced tab, Internet connections with and without proxy setting conflicts are displayed. When MCN Accelerator is enabled, you have two options:

• Accelerate all connections

• Only accelerate connections without proxy conflicts

If you choose to accelerate all connections, all connections (including any with potential conflicts) are temporarily reconfigured to be compatible with MCN Accelerator. This means that the MCN Accelerator proxy settings are substituted for whatever settings may exist for that connection. Whenever you disable or exit MCN Accelerator, the original settings are restored.

Accelerating connections that have proxy conflicts may or may not work. A good approach is to look at the list of incompatible connections.

• If you are not using any connections identified as having potential conflicts with MCN Accelerator, choose the Only Accelerate Connections Without Proxy Conflicts option.

• If you want to try accelerating a connection that has proxy conflicts with MCN Accelerator, choose the Accelerate All Connections option. If another software program is using a proxy for acceleration or other such services, substituting the MCN Accelerator proxy settings may allow you to accelerate your Internet experience.

However, if your Internet connection is dependent on another proxy (such as a firewall), accelerating that particular connection will most likely not succeed. (You can restore your system to the previous proxy setting by selecting Stop MCN Accelerator from the Windows Start menu.)

Programs -> MCN Accelerator -> Stop MCN Accelerator

Email acceleration. In the Advanced tab window, you have the option to accelerate email. By selecting this check box, you enable email acceleration; you disable email acceleration when you clear this check box. The MCN Accelerator Client supports POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) for email acceleration.

If the MCN Accelerator Client is disabled, the Email Acceleration check box remains visible.

Diagnostics

Diagnostics can be useful if you are having problems connecting to the Internet or if the degree of Internet acceleration is less than expected.

Note: More detailed information about the meaning of each diagnostic step, and suggested actions in case a particular test fails, can be found in your local MCN Accelerator Help. A link to this file appears on the diagnostics window.

Information reported by MCN Accelerator diagnostics includes:

• System resources

• Basic Internet connectivity

• Packet loss (phone line integrity)

• Current line speed

• URL of the Service to which you are connected

• Client version

• Advanced speed tests for text and graphics

• Graphic acceleration setting

• System Information

To run diagnostics:

• Click the MCN Accelerator icon.

• Select the Diagnostics menu option.

• Click Run.

Run/Stop. This command starts or stops the 8-step diagnostic test.

Copy log. Copies the contents of the Diagnostics window to your computer's clipboard.

Clear log. Clears the Diagnostics window of any previously run diagnostics.

Help. Opens MCN Accelerator menu Help to the Diagnostics section.
Each of the diagnostic tests are described in detail in MCN Accelerator Help.

Programs -> {MCN Accelerator program group} -> Help

Sending the Diagnostic Log to Customer Support

If you experience technical difficulties when running MCN Accelerator,
you may need to send diagnostic information to an e-mail address that will be provided to you.
Follow these steps to capture the information:

• Click Clear Log (if diagnostics have already been run during the session).

• Click Run.

• Click Copy Log to copy the diagnostic log to your computer clipboard.

• Paste the diagnostic report into an e-mail and send it to the support e-mail address you received.

MCN Accelerator Overview

MCN Acceleration Information

MCN Accelerator Set Up Instructions

MCN Accelerator Compatibility Table

MCN Homepage