Blaze Web Performance PackTM

Version 1.5.2

March 9, 1998

Copyright ©1996-1998 Ascent Solutions Inc. (ASi)



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1.0 General Information

The Blaze Web Performance Pack(tm) ("Blaze WPP") is a suite of integrated software tools designed to allow users of 32-bit Microsoft Windows(r) to more efficiently and quickly access the World Wide Web. When you install Blaze WPP, you can:
  Visit the Blaze WPP web site, at http://www.SpeedItUp.com, for answers to your questions about the operation of various features in Blaze WPP. An on-line tutorial is available at the Blaze WPP web site, which you can access by selecting Support from the Organize Help menu, then choosing the Welcome link on the technical support page (this corresponds to http://www.SpeedItUp.com/help/welcome.html).
 

2.0 System Requirements

Blaze WPP requires the following software:

one of these operating systems:

one of these World Wide Web browsers: with the following minimum hardware configuration:  


3.0 What's New

The following items have been added or corrected since release 1.1 The following items have been added or corrected since release 1.5  

4.0 Release Notes

The following are some things to remember when using Blaze WPP:
 

4.1 Readahead Browsing

The readahead browsing feature of Blaze WPP temporarily caches (stores) pages in memory so that they can be quickly sent to the browser.
 
 

4.2 Importing Bookmarks from the Current Browser

Rather than forcing you to re-enter your current bookmarks from your browser, Blaze WPP can import them directly. This is available from Blaze WPP Organize's Tools menu; just choose Import Bookmarks and let Blaze WPP do the work.

Blaze WPP automatically detects which supported browsers are installed on your system, and gives you the opportunity to choose the browser(s) from which to import. Blaze WPP imports your browser's bookmarks into its database, after which they may be used by any of Blaze WPP's functions.
 
 

4.3 Backing up the Blaze WPP Database

Blaze WPP stores all bookmarks, schedules, and searches in a database on your hard drive. We recommend backing up these items periodically. The database is located in the Blaze WPP installation directory in the subdirectory called, users\yourname\db, where "yourname" is your login ID. For instance, if your login ID is bob and you installed Blaze WPP in the default installation directory, the name of this directory will be:

C:\Program Files\ASi\Blaze Web Performance Pack\users\bob\db

If you are running Microsoft Windows(r) 95 without user logins, the name of this directory will be:

C:\Program Files\ASi\Blaze Web Performance Pack\users\default\db

Blaze WPP keeps the index for Everything I have seen so far in the subdirectory called, users\yourname\vh, where "yourname" is your login ID. For instance, if your login ID is susan, and you installed Blaze WPP in the default installation directory, the name of this directory will be:

C:\Program Files\ASi\Blaze Web Performance Pack\users\susan\vh

If you are running Microsoft Windows(r) 95 without user logins, the name of this directory will be:

C:\Program Files\ASi\Blaze Web Performance Pack\users\default\vh
 

4.4 Limitations on Working with Browsers

You may notice that while you may have several versions of a particular browser installed (for example, Netscape Navigator(tm) 3.0 and Navigator(tm) 3.01), only the most recently installed version is presented as a choice to be used with Blaze WPP. This is due to the way those products store their configuration data. While these may even occupy different areas on the hard drive, they will use many of the same common areas (in the registry and elsewhere) to store configuration information.

If you install Blaze WPP with one version of a particular browser, and then uninstall a different version of that same browser, you may get unpredictable and undesired results that are totally independent of Blaze WPP's operation. If that uninstall leaves the configuration data alone, recognizing that another version of the browser is currently using it, Blaze WPP will have no problem.

If you should uninstall the version of your browser that Blaze WPP has been using, invoke the Configuration dialog (choose Configure from the proxy's content menu-right click the red X icon in the system tray-or choose Configuration from the Tools menu in Organize) and just click OK. This will cause Blaze WPP to recognize that your browser settings have changed.

The bottom line is that you must be very careful when maintaining multiple versions of the same browser on your system with Blaze WPP.
 

4.5 Working With Proxies

Blaze WPP supports proxies. A proxy is a special hardware or software product that acts as an intermediary between your machine and the Internet. This is sometimes done in businesses to provide the outside world with a single machine's address, to restrict traffic that may enter or leave the local network, or perhaps to isolate host name lookups. Proxies used for security reasons are often called firewalls. In most circumstances, Blaze WPP's setup program automatically detects your proxy settings and adapts itself and the browser to that environment.

The only known situation where Blaze WPP cannot work with your existing proxy configuration is where the proxy settings are automatically configured by pointing the browser to a special file (this is called Automatic Proxy Configuration in Netscape Navigator(tm)). Blaze WPP does not support automatic configuration.
 

4.6 Uninstalling the Product

While uninstalling Blaze WPP, you may be prompted to delete certain files(DLLs) in the Microsoft Windows(r) 95 or Windows NT(r) system directory (often something like c:\windows\system). The operating system may mistakenly indicate that these files can be removed safely; however, deleting them may prevent other programs from running. The problem arises from some setup programs' failure to register that the applications they installed use these DLLs.

We strongly recommend that you remove none of the DLLs from the Microsoft Windows(r) 95 or Windows NT(r) system directory during the uninstall. You may wish to move those files to a temporary directory to test whether any of your applications stop working. If none fail after a few weeks of use, you can probably delete the files after all.
 

4.7 Known Problems in this Release


5.0 Contacting ASi

We welcome and encourage comments, problem reports, and suggestions. Please email us at blazesupport@asizip.com. Additional information is available through our web site at http://www.SpeedItUp.com.

Blaze Web Performance Pack, xSpeed, and xSpeed Server Extension are trademarks of ASi. Windows, Windows 95, Windows NT and Internet Explorer are trademarks of Microsoft, Inc. Navigator is a trademark of Netscape, Inc.


Copyright ©1996-1998 Ascent Solutions, inc.