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Ever wonder how much unwanted ads slow down your internet connection? A lot!
Did you know that a slow-loading ad can cause more delays than the actual download and rendering of all other page elements combined?
SpeedManiac can help you get some sanity back by blocking ads, large graphics, flash animations, and javascripts that bog down your internet connection.
How does SpeedManiac work?
By preventing some ads or graphics from downloading in the first place, web pages will load significantly faster for you, some in half the time they used to. If you change your mind and want to load a web page in full, simply hold down the option or shift key while the page loads. It is that simple. Option-Command-. (Period) also toggles filtering on and off for your convenience.
SpeedManiac creates up to 40 proxy threads that keep connections to servers alive for up to 10 seconds, thus speeding up requests. Instead
of having to look for a server for every request (graphic, etc) a connection is kept open to speed up the process. Using up to 40
separate threads means processing many things at the same time even if you have multiple browser pages open or you are downloading multiple files.
SpeedManiac uses a multi-node B-Tree cache to avoid the need to resolve the names of servers to their IP addresses. Using a multi-node B-Tree
finds a server address in less than 4 steps instead of hundreds of steps in the operating system or DNS lookups. SpeedManiac cacches up to 100
DNS addresses at a time.
Buffer sizes are automatically adjusted for each connection and server, and when downloading files plenty of buffer space is used to speed up
the file download.
The ad blocking list in SpeedManiac was gathered over many months of automated testing, gathering information of ad sites on the web but you
can edit the list of servers and add your own, in order to block ads from any particular site.
The proxy configuration is done for you automatically, which means that you do not have to dig into the system preferences to change settings.
Download SpeedManiac
Software Requirements:
SpeedManiac is for Mac OS X 10.3, 10.4 or above (10.1 and 10.2 version available as well) and it is used with a web browser that supports proxy connections, such as most modern browsers, Safari, Internet Explorer, Mail, etc.
Features:
- Option to block graphics of a certain size (1 - 30K) if not already loaded.
- Option to block ad sites. We have almost 1600 ad sites blocked. Even google ads.
- Option to block flash animations.
- Option to block all graphics (useful in certain cases).
- You can now edit the list of sites/graphics that are blocked.
- Run at login.
- Enable/Disable filtering with Option-Command-. (period)
- Always free upgrades.
- Check for new versions of the software.
- Automatic configuration.
- Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel Macs
- DNS smart cache avoids unwanted DNS lookups and OS lookups.
- Better download of files by automatically adjusting buffer sizes.
Installation and Purchasing:
SpeedManiac is 29.95 U.S. dollars and can be purchased from within the application or on the web at http://batista.org/purchase.html
SpeedManiac will work in trial mode for 15 days, at which point you need to obtain a license or the software will stop working. The latest version is always available at http://batista.org and software upgrades are always free.
SpeedManiac comes in a "disk image", which when double clicked creates a virtual disk on your desktop. Run the installer enclosed in that disk and SpeedManiac will be copied to your Applications folder.
An installation log is created in your private Library -> Logs folder along with an uninstall script.
SpeedManiac should run automatically the first time after you install, from then on you may want to add it as a "login" item so that SpeedManiac can always do its job.
Once you run SpeedManiac, it sets itself automatically as your HTTP proxy (127.0.0.1:1080), when you quit SpeedManiac it restores your original network settings. All you need to do is run SpeedManiac and see the difference.
To purchase SpeedManiac, select "Purchase SpeedManiac..." from the SpeedManiac menu or visit the purchase page at http://batista.org/purchase.html We recommend using the built-in secure option since you don't have to type in a serial number after your purchase. SpeedManiac uses the secure eSellerate engine and your transaction is secure.
If you buy on the web, then you need to register your serial number. Select Register Serial Number... from the SpeedManiac menu.
Privacy information for eSellerate Product Activation is available at http://www.esellerate.net/papolicy.
Test trial times for SpeedManiac version 1.32. The first column has test load
times with Safari and no proxy involved. The second column is with SpeedManiac
as the proxy, set to have ads and flash blocked. We tried both a modem connection
and a DSL connection. Your particular results may vary depending on your own
network connection, local traffic, computers used, etc.
Modem connection 56K, Safari, load 5 times with cache cleared after every URL.
cnn.com with SpeedManiac
35.431 16.774
36.154 16.344
boston.com with SpeedManiac
46.798 15.148
42.197 15.061
latimes.com with SpeedManiac
39.599 31.970
nytimes.com with SpeedManiac
30.708 16.604
nypost.com with SpeedManiac
44.575 26.054
injersey.com with SpeedManiac
29.192 25.798
abcnews.com with SpeedManiac
39.201 24.498
41.211 33.991
DSL connection, Safari, load 5 times with cache cleared after every URL.
cnn.com with SpeedManiac
5.799 3.867
5.080 3.784
nytimes.com with SpeedManiac
4.163 3.431
3.882 3.356
boston.com with SpeedManiac
5.184 2.972
5.009 2.531
latimes.com with SpeedManiac
6.632 4.454
6.960 4.522
While in some sites SpeedManiac may not have a big effect, the more ads there are in a site the more benefit you get from SpeedManiac, sometimes the effect is dramatic such as the case of boston.com and cnn.com which are heavily loaded with ads.
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