Note: This FAQ is also useful if you are simply interested in figuring out exactly how much acceleration you are getting. With Propel Accelerator in place you should be seeing a very noticeable increase in surfing speed -- an average of 3X acceleration, with some pages appearing up to 5 times faster. To get a better idea of the types of speed improvements you should expect to receive, see the Propel Accelerator Technical Overview. It contains a table showing typical speed improvements accessing several popular Web sites such as Amazon, c/net, and Priceline, among others, over dial-up modems. In our studies Web page performance can be significantly influenced by a number of factors including:

• Amount of data required to display a Web page. If you haven't already done so, try a higher Graphics Acceleration setting such as Level 4 or 5. For complete details on graphics acceleration options Click Here.
• Connection speed, which can vary significantly even when you are using the same ISP and dialing in to the same phone number.
• Available memory (RAM), which can vary depending on the number of applications you are running. Even though Propel Accelerator can run with very little available RAM, acceleration benefits can be further optimized if you have plenty of free RAM available.

• The mouse-over. The quickest/fastest way to determine the amount of acceleration you are getting is to move your mouse over the Propel Accelerator icon. A small pop-up will appear telling you that Propel Accelerator is enabled and reporting the average speed up you are getting.
• Performance meter. Click on the Propel menu and choose Performance Meter and Test Page... In addition to displaying your average speed-up, you'll also see your effective speed in kbps (kilobits/second) based on Propel's compression of text and graphics.
• Performance Test Page. You'll also find a button that will take you to the Propel Accelerator Performance Test Page (PTP).
• Enable/Disable Propel Accelerator. You can use the Disable Propel Accelerator menu command to turn off Propel Accelerator for an hour or two of surfing, then turn it back on and use it for a similar amount of time.
• Independent verification. Numion provides a "stopwatch" for timing page loads as well as many other interesting timing tools:
  To use the Numion stopwatch to test Propel Accelerator:
  1. Choose Disable Propel Accelerator from the Propel Accelerator menu
  2. Go to the Numion StopWatch page
  3. Enter the URL of your choice to be measured
  4. Click Start StopWatch
  5. Write down the results
  6. Enable Propel Accelerator
  7. Time the same URL
  8. Compare the results.
  
  Try the test several times. You can also experiment with clearing your browser cache and the Propel Accelerator cache.
• Numion has another interesting test involving popular Web sites:
  1. First, disable Propel Accelerator
  2. Go to the Numion home page
  3. Click on the Your speed button
  4. Choose a location (or the world)
  5. Click Start!
  6. Write down your results
  7. Enable Propel Accelerator
  8. Run through steps 2-6
  9. Compare the results