Propel Accelerator + AdSubtract and America Online

In order to use Proper Accelerator on a system running AdSubtract, some minor changes to preferences are needed.

Changes to Make to AOL and Internet Explorer

The following steps allow you to "chain" Propel Accelerator and AdSubtract proxy settings together for use with AOL (6.0 or 7.0). Although there are a number of steps, each takes only a few moments to accomplish.

Click on the Propel Icon and and choose "options" then "advanced" and make sure that Propel is set to "only accelerate connections without proxy conflicts"

From Internet Explorer select Tools -> Internet Options. Then click on the Connections tab.

Select the connection you are using (typically from the Dial-up settings list -- it may already be selected). Click Settings...

Make sure that the "Use a proxy server for this connection" checkbox is checked. If not, do so. Then click the Advanced... button.

Make sure that the proxy address for HTTP is set to 127.0.0.1. If the proxy address is missing or is some other value, change it to 127.0.0.1 (AdSubtract may have automatically changed this setting at some point to "AdSubtract" -- that is fine.)

Make sure that the port number is set to 4444, AdSubtract's default proxy server port number. If the port number is missing or different, change it to 4444.

Configuration Changes to Make to AdSubtract

Double-click on the AdSubtract icon in the taskbar (near the system clock). Then click on the Proxy tab.

Make sure that the checkbox "Use next-hop HTTP proxy server" is checked. If not, do so.

Set the HTTP Proxy to "localhost" (without quotation marks). Then set the port number to the Propel Accelerator proxy server port number. By default this number is 8080, but it may be different on your system. (Click Here for instructions on verifying the Propel Accelerator HTTP proxy port number.)

Make sure that the checkbox "Use an AOL proxy" is not selected.

Click OK.

Sign on again to AOL.

Re-Enabling AdSubtract After Stopping or Uninstalling Propel Accelerator

Important: Propel Accelerator is run in the background at all times. If you stop or uninstall Propel Accelerator, you will get a message indicating that you need to change your Internet Explorer HTTP proxy setting (even if you are using AOL, the IE HTTP proxy setting is involved). However, since the proxy setting is pointing to AdSubstract, you actually do not need to alter the browser settings. Instead, re-enable AdSubtract after stopping or uninstalling Propel Accelerator by following these steps:

Double-click on the AdSubtract icon (in the taskbar, near the system clock).

Select the Proxy tab.

De-select the "Use next-hop HTTP proxy server" checkbox.

Make sure that the checkbox "Use an AOL proxy" is selected. If not, do so.

Click Apply, then OK.

Verify using the diagnostic test provided with AdSubtract. Double-click on the AdSubtract icon. From the Main menu click the Test Filtering button and follow the screen instructions.