Blaze Ahead on the Net
06/01/97
PC/Computing
Page 170
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Blaze Web Performance Pack 1.1
Verdict: A limited but capable shot in the arm for your Internet connections.
Pros: Read-ahead cache won't anger Web server administrators; top-notch parallel-search tool; future server-side technology could offer impressive performance.
Cons: Read-ahead cache is no barn burner; downloads only one page at a time; interface needs help.
Competition: Combine a kinder, gentler (to servers) version of Peak Technologies ' Peak Net.Jet, The ForeFront Group's WebSeeker parallel-search tool, and the scheduling features of Symantec's Internet FastFind--and you get the equivalent of Blaze 1.1.
System Requirements: Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0, 8MB of RAM, 6MB of hard disk space, Netscape Navigator 2.0 or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0.
$50 est. street price
Datalytics
Someday you'll look back at your slow-as-molasses Web connection and laugh--or cry--because you didn't use a speed-enhancing utility like Datalytics' $50 Blaze Web Performance Pack 1.1. If you've got the disk space to spare, Blaze's read-ahead cache is a nifty way to speed up your Web surfing experience, and is well worth Datalytics' free 30day trial offer.
Safe Speeds
Kudos to Blaze 1.1 just for being a Web accelerator program that doesn't overtax Web servers to the point that their operators feel compelled to block it out (see "Get Peak Performance on the Net," April 1997, page 128). Datalytics has made darn certain that Blaze 1.1 won't cause a firestorm of protest from Webmasters. That means you can use it without feeling guilty and reap the rewards of mildly improved page connections as well as of Blaze Organizer, a program that combines parallel searching, scheduling, and smart bookmarking.
You'll milk the most performance from Blaze's read-ahead cache if you set the disk cache size to 5MB or so. What does Blaze trade for its server friendliness? The primary safeguard is that it does only single-threaded reads. In other words, it checks only one link at a time.
Blaze's built-in parallel-search engine is both faster and more accurate than ForeFront Group's WebSeeker, Quarterdeck's WebCompass, Symantec's Internet FastFind, or Iconovex's EchoSearch. In part that's because Blaze translates your search query into the language of each of the eight top-notch search engines it supports, including AltaVista and Infoseek.
It's easy to name and save search results in Blaze, and to schedule automatic updates for them. Blaze even has its own dialer, so it can launch a connection to the Net, run a scheduled search update, and disconnect automatically. That's a handy feature, especially if you start your day going to the same five news sites. This way, Blaze downloads all your information ahead of time and has it waiting for you. Blaze also has a smart bookmarking tool that monitors sites and indicates when they've been updated.
One by One
If you're the sort who clicks on a link every 30 seconds, the program probably won't have enough time to prefetch your next selection. Since it checks only one link at a time, it downloads only one page at a time. Other Web accelerators like Peak Technologies Peak Net.Jet download several pages at once, which improves the odds that the next page you pick will be at least partially downloaded.
In future versions of Blaze, coming soon, watch for improvements to its read-ahead cache. Two new cache settings, Intelligent and Adaptive, will be added. Both settings boost effective performance by precaching links for pages that are more likely to interest you. Datalytics also plans a giant interface upgrade, something that's sorely needed. All in all, the Blaze of the not-so-distant future should address our biggest criticisms of the 1.1 release. And at least some of these new features should be available for download as you read this. |
