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WebWarper: Internet Optimizer

WebWarper is a multifunctional Internet service with web interface. Basic service function for now is saving user traffic. WebWarper also protects from viruses, anonymizes (hides user visits to sites), and, in some cases, can accelerate Internet access.

As it is, the majority of web pages consist of usual texts designed in HTML format. Texts can be fairly well compressed, and HTML texts can be compressed extremely well — sometimes up to 5 times and more. So, compressing a page and sending a compressed version to browser can cause substantial traffic decrease. WebWarper service implements the above idea by reading a selected page from some server, compressing it and sending to you. The page is unpacked on the client side, for the feature of accepting compressed pages and unpacking them "on the fly" is included in all modern browsers.

Some sites, like google.com, compress content themselves. Nevertheless, WebWarper can save traffic in this case too, by removing extra information that does not affect page appearance — i.e. spaces, comments and instructions for search robots.

It is always possible to measure total traffic saving for a given site using a link to the measurement utility that is located on the home service page, and in the upper control panel on all pages watched through WebWarper.

Besides standard compression, WebWarper has a special "super-dense" mode. In this mode page appearance changes significantly — all scripts, graphics and other decorative items are removed. At the same time textual information, that is usually the main site content of the site, in majority of cases remains readable. Please look at Yahoo! site in the super-dense mode. Though this site compresses its pages, however, the measuring traffic utility shows appreciable saving.

Super-dense mode can be useful for the owners of mobile phones, for complex design does not look good on a small screen, and traffic saving can be useful, considering low speed and high costs.

Second most important WebWarper feature is antivirus protection. Usually, infection through web occurs in a simple way. User is prompted to download some "ActiveX module" that is said to be useful or absolutely necessary for viewing a site. Of course, the browser gives a warning, but the majority of people does not read warnings, and prefers answering "OK" for all unexpected questions, or pressing buttons recommended by site authors in pretty and descriptive animations. It is very hard to cure viruses, obtained in this way, for the method simplicity causes appearance of multiple ActiveX unknown to antivirus software producers.

WebWarper provides protection from such infection. Together with compression, the service removes from pages all ActiveX and embedded plug-ins, except the well-known and safe Macromedia Flash that allows animating sites and designing non-trivial interfaces. All other ActiveX modules are unnecessary for viewing 99.99% of all sites and many of such modules solve the only purpose of infecting computers.

WebWarper service does also support user anonymity. The anonymization has its limits — for example, it is impossible to post messages to forums anonymously (this limitation appeared as a forced protective measure taken against anonymity misuse that can cause serious problems for forum owners and WebWarper authors). But in case you do not send information and just view the sites, the anonymity is guaranteed — user computer IP is not shown anywhere.

Page compression can create additional effect in form of access acceleration, for less information is transferred to the end user. Such acceleration does not occur in cases. In case of high-speed access, the page appearance speed improvement is not guaranteed, more than that, the access can slow down. It can occur that access speed to webwarper.net server is much less than the speed of direct access and even compressed data will get in slower than uncompressed originals. In cases, when the Internet access channel is really bad (for example, you are in a small town Internet cafe), WebWarper can become not just an accelerator, but also an only way to access the site you need.

WebWarper implementation has a unique feature distinguishing the service among others. The use of the service is built around browser address line modification. It is not necessary to install anything in order to view a site through WebWarper; it is just enough to add a special prefix "http://webwarper.net/ww/~av/". For example, the address would look like
    http://webwarper.net/ww/~av/www.lycos.com/
In the above example "~av" means the antivirus operation mode. Other modes are selected in a similar way, for example, "~s" stands for "super-dense". Other applications with similar functions, like Google Web Accelerator, perform address correction automatically. Application is installed and all browser traffic goes through it transparently for the user. That is convenient, but if something does not suit user anymore, it is pretty hard to cease using program for some time. It would be necessary, for example, to customize the list of sites to be ignored or disable the application at all.

In case of WebWarper it is possible to select optimization mode for each site independently. It is very simple to disable optimization — just remove the "webwarper.net/ww/~av/" prefix from address line. It is also possible to add to Favorites links to the sites optimized with WebWarper, and not optimized original links.

To say more, site developers can redirect their users through WebWarper without any effort on user side. It is always possible to place on site a link to itself, but with added "webwarper.net/ww/~av/" prefix. There are such sites already: some of them are listed in "Examples" section at WebWarper main page.

It is not too convenient to add prefix for all addresses. In order to solve this problem it is possible to use a special webwarper.exe utility. The utility is very simple and small (27 KB); references to it are present at the service site and at many download directories. The utility performs a single function of changing default prefix for Internet Explorer. If the utility is started, and the corresponding flag is set, browser starts adding "http://webwarper.net/ww/~av/" prefix to the address line. It does not create a problem in terms of getting to some site WITHOUT WebWarper, in order to do that it is necessary to type in the complete page address, starting from standard "http://" prefix. In other words, usually it is necessary to add "http://webwarper.net/ww/~av/" in order to optimize address, but when the utility is activated — type "http://" to re-enter the non-optimized one. Switching modes is trivial — just start the utility and select the necessary mode.

WebWarper is a free service and is ad-supported. Advertisement is unpleasant for users and can level the service advantages (i.e. require a lot of traffic). Understanding that, WebWarper authors are giving you an ability to disable advertising totally and for free. All you have to do is to click on the corresponding link in the ad panel. Authors agree that the regular users have a right to work in a comfortable way, and it will be enough to demonstrate ads to new users only.

Disabling ads is temporary; in the current version the time span is 18 hrs. Then the ads are turned on and it is necessary to disable them again. In fact, regular users see ads only once a day, when they open WebWarper for the first time, and disable ads immediately. Nevertheless, it is always possible to purchase (USD 8.90) registration code that allows disabling ads for a year.

WebWarper home page: http://webwarper.net.