Copyright: 1998 Siemens AG, Webwasher 1.0


What is WebWasher?

WebWasher is a software add-on for Netscape and Microsoft browsers which makes it easier to find useful information on the Web.

Benefits

•	Removes advertising on Web pages while you surf.

•	Filters pop-up windows.

•	Loads pages faster.

•	Saves up to 45% network bandwidth.

•	Detailed statistical functions.

•	Easy installation.

•	Smart Update with push-button upgrade.

•	No need to install the software on each PC in a network. Allows user to run WebWasher as a proxy that others can access.

•	Can write a Common Logfile.

•	Does not modify any existing winsock DLL or settings/registry.


Installation

WebWasher requires less than 1 MB of harddrive space.

•	Start wwashxxx.exe (xxx stands for the version number). The Wise Installation System will be launched.

•	Choose your preferred language (German/English) for the installation process.

•	Choose directory in which WebWasher will be installed.

•	Choose a name for the program manager group.

•	Configure WebWasher for your proxy server (see Configuration).

Just in case. You can deinstall WebWasher with the deinstall icon in the WebWasher program manager group.


Configuration

Configuration in 2 steps

Step 1: Configure browser

•	Netscape Communicator: In Communicator select "Preferences..." in the "Edit" menu. Select the category "Proxies" in "Advanced". Mark "Manual proxy configuration" and click on "View...". Enter the host ("localhost" or "127.0.0.1") and port ("8080") in "HTTP" field (screenshot). Close both windows by clicking on the "OK" button.

•	Microsoft Internet Explorer: Start the Windows Control Panel and double click on "Internet". Select the "Connection" tab and mark the box "Access the Internet by using a proxy server". Click on the "Advanced" button and enter the host ("localhost" or "127.0.0.1") and port ("8080") in the "HTTP" field. Close both windows by clicking on the "OK" button.

Step 2: Configure WebWasher

•	Direct Internet connection / no proxy: When you don't use a proxy server or never have used a proxy server to connect to the Internet, you don´t need to configure WebWasher. You're done !

•	Proxy:  Start WebWasher. A tray icon [image] appears. Double click on the tray icon. Choose the ´Proxy Engine´ tab. Enter your proxy address and port number (screenshot). . You're done !

•	Automatic proxy configuration: Please contact your Internet service provider (ISP) or your network administrator and ask for the address of a proxy server. Then continue with Step 2 (Proxy).

Hint:	You can easily deactivate WebWasher at any time and retrieve Web pages in original format. Just make one left click on the WebWasher tray icon [image]. It will change to [image]. Then reload the Web page.


Filter Advertising

Many Web pages contain annoying or even offending commercials. These ads distract user from reading the real information. WebWasher is able to block the download of advertising banners, images, logos, frames, javascripts, java-applets, pop-up windows and other ad gimmicks. Web pages become almost commercial free on your browser.

WebWasher identifies classified pictures by characteristic widths and heights of the images, special HTML patterns, with an URL exclusion list and other countermeasures. The program can deactivate most javascript stealth mechanisms that try to hide advertising.

WebWasher includes a set of characteristic patterns that will disable most advertising. But you can extent the URL and image dimension block lists to meet your needs.

•	Removes reliable advertising on Web pages.

•	Pages are loaded quicker because WebWasher disables contacting the ad-server.

•	Web page becomes easier readable.

•	User can extend the block lists.

•	Statistics show how much is filtered.


Proxy Engine

The Proxy Engine is the core of WebWasher. It routes all Internet traffic between your browser and the proxy server resp. the Internet.

Usual dataflow:

Dataflow with WebWasher:


Known Errors

Please have a look at the Web page http://www.siemens.de/servers/wwash/wwash_us/faq.htm for up-to-date information.


Questions and Answers

Please have a look at the Web page http://www.siemens.de/servers/wwash/wwash_us/faq.htm for up-to-date information.

Installation

Q:  I have installed WebWasher. But it does not do anything.

A:  You need to configure WebWasher and your browser. Please read the Configuration

Q:  I have configured everything correctly, but still nothing happens.

A:  T-Online Users: You need to start your T-Online software before launching WebWasher.

A:  You may have a browser from your ISP (e.g. T-Online) that has fixed browser  settings. You can check your browser with a test page at  http://www.siemens.de/servers/wwash/wwash_us/test.htm . There you can find up-to-date help, patches and more.

Q:  I have installed WebWasher. But Web pages are loaded much slower now.

A:  Check your proxy settings.  Did you type in the correct proxy address and port. Some proxies run slower on port 80 than on 81.

Functions:

Q:  Does WebWasher fetch ad images and make them just invisible on the Web page?

A:  No. WebWasher eliminates the HTTP connection to advertising. This means your browser does not download the ad images. Web surfing speed can increase significantly and network bandwidth is saved.

Q:  I use the filters of WebWasher to kill banners on Web pages. But sometimes I would like to see the page in the original format. How can I do that?

A:  You can easily deactivate WebWasher at any time and retrieve Web pages in original format. Just make one left click on the WebWasher tray icon [image]. It will change to [image]. Then reload the Web page.

Q:  Will I get SPAM-mail when I send back the feedback form?

A:  You can send the form anonymously without revealing your email-address. If you decide to provide your email address, we will only use it to answer your questions. That´s it. Nothing else.

Q:  I clicked once on the WebWasher tray icon, but nothing happened. Then a few seconds later, the tray icon changed suddenly. What happens?

A:  The delay between your single mouse click on the tray icon and the change of the icon is correct. Windows waits a moment to interpret your mouse click correctly as a single click and not a double click. The length of the delay depends on your mouse settings in Windows.

Q:  Can I surf faster with WebWasher?

A:  WebWasher speeds up Web surfing in two ways:

•	First, Web pages are loaded faster because less data is retrieved. The amount of acceleration depends on the WebWasher configuration and the Web pages. Therefore it does not make sense to publish a statement like ´x-times faster´.

•	Second, - we believe this is much more important - WebWasher helps you to save a substantial amount of time by filtering and presenting the content in your personal style. For example, pages without advertising are less distracting and much faster to read. You do not need to close each annoying pop-up window anymore.

Q:  I noticed that sometimes the number of filtered images in the WebWasher statistics window exceeds the number of advertising images on the Web page. Does WebWasher filter too much?

A:  Web pages can include additional, non-visible graphical data that are required for the positioning of the advertising. WebWasher filters them, too.

Q:  Does WebWasher send the numbers in the statistics window to someone?

A:  No. The numbers will not be sent to anyone and can not be retrieved by other network users. All data is stored in the file wwasher.ini on your local hard drive. If you like you can send us a feedback and tell us how many Megabytes transferred data you have saved. :-)

Q:  Can I hide WebWasher on my desktop

A:  Sure. Use in the ´options´ menu ´Hide splash screen´ and ´Hide tray icon´. Close WebWasher. The program will still be active. If you want to change settings again, you need to restart WebWasher.

Upgrading

Q:  How can I upgrade to new WebWasher versions?

A: Use the menu item ´Check for update´ in the help menu ´?´. WebWasher will contact a download server and notify you if a new version is available.

Miscellaneous

Q:  I have an idea to improve WebWasher. Can I write an own plug-in?

A:  Generally speaking, yes. All plug-ins of WebWasher are DLLs. So, extension of WebWasher´s functions can easily be made. Please contact us for details.

Q:  Why is Siemens starting to develop a program that is completely free for educational institutions and non-commercial users?

A:  There are many reasons. For example, we can develop the product much faster. The rate of incoming improvements and new features for the program will be considerably higher compared to pure commercial software. The product will extremely well meet the expectations of a very broad range of user. And of course: WebWasher is a small contribution for the journey to  more sense of responsibility in the information- and communication society.

Q: I wanted to be put on your WebWasher mailing list. But I did not receive any mail up to now, although there are new versions available in the mean time.

A: We only send emails if the new version includes many more functions with substantial, additional benefits. Please consider that new versions with simple bugfixes or improvements may be generated daily, sometimes hourly.


Version 1.0

This is the first official version of WebWasher. It includes the Advertising Filter to eliminate banners, images and other ad gimmicks on Web pages.


Feedback

Please send your ideas, comments, bug reports etc. to us. Just open the help menu ´?´ of WebWasher and then choose ´Send feedback...´. There you can type in your comments. Alternatively, you can use the email-address below.

Thank you for using WebWasher.

WebWasher Hotline:

support.webwasher@pdb.siemens.de


How to buy

Home User or educational institutions: WebWasher is free (Freeware) for non-commercial users (home users) and

educational institutions like e.g. schools and universities. Enjoy the software and have a good time on the Web. If you like, you can send suggestions, ideas, bug reports to us. Good ideas will be implemented in the future.

Commercial Users: WebWasher is low-cost shareware for commercial users. You can try and test the software 30 days at no charge. If you decide to continue to use WebWasher you need to buy a license.

Where to buy WebWasher?

You can buy WebWasher via secure shopping on the Web. Please check out http://www.siemens.de/servers/wwash/wwash_us/buy.htm


Smart Update

Updating of your WebWasher version is very easy. Just activate WebWasher, in the menu bar choose ´?´ (Help) and then ´Check for update´. WebWasher will inform you if there is a newer version available. In that case it loads the update for the installation.

Alternatively, you can download the newest version by yourself from http://www.siemens.de/servers/wwash/wwash_us/download.htm. Install WebWasher in the existing program directory. The install program will replace outdated files.


Type ´127.0.0.1´ and ´8080´ in the HTTP proxy settings of your browser as shown in the picture below.


Type your proxy address and the port number as shown below.

Hint: You can retrieve your proxy address and port from the preferences menu of your browser.


Begin help that is not indexed in the content


Hide splash screen

A splash screen with the ´WebWasher logo´ and the version number pops up during start of the program. You can hide the splash screen by selecting the item "Hide splash screen" in the "Options" menu.


Hide tray icon

You can hide the tray icon [image] by selecting the item "Hide tray icon" in the "Options" menu. If you want to change any WebWasher preferences later, you need to restart the program.


Disable warning on exit

When you close WebWasher a message appears "If you shut down WebWasher you have to change your...". You can disable this message with the option ´Disable warning on exit´.


Don´t animate tray icon

The WebWasher tray icon becomes a little darker while there are open connections to the Internet. This is useful to monitor the activities of your browser. You can disable this function with the option ´Don´t animate tray icon´.


Don´t change user agent field

When your browser requests an object like text or image from a website it sends also a browser identification string (user agent). This string is used by some sites to display Web pages that are best suited to your browser´s characteristics. WebWasher does not change browser´s ID but adds the WebWasher ID to the user agent field. This allows webmasters to calculate the percentage of WebWasher accesses on their site. If you do not want that websites identify your WebWasher usage, you can disable this function with the option ´Don´t change user agent field´.


Begin context sensitive help


Activates and stores the configuration settings.


Dismisses all changes in this window.


Main switch to activate or deactivate the advertising filter. WebWasher removes advertising banners, images, pop-up windows, and other commercials on Web pages. Surfing speed increases.


Removes all pop-up windows that are launched when you enter a Web page. This is a brute-force method to get rid of advertising windows.


Disconnects WebWasher and the browser from the proxy server. If you are connected to an Intranet, then you can only access Intranet websites. Normally, you should not check this.


Avoids that your browser enters these domains via a proxy.  For example, list domains that belong to your Intranet.


The port number of WebWasher that is used to connect to your browser.


This is the port number of the proxy server


This is the port number of the secure proxy server.


This field is used to specify the proxy server. A proxy server is like a gateway between your computer and the Internet.

You can specify several proxies. When you request a Web page, WebWasher automatically checks which proxy is fastest and switches to the connection with the highest performance.


This field is used to specify the secure proxy server. A secure proxy server allows you to retrieve and send encrypted information.


WebWasher includes separate functional modules (plug-ins) that allow developers to extend the program´s features easily.


Accepts your commands and closes the window.


The number of removed advertising images since the start of the statistics. WebWasher automatically blocks HTTP requests to advertising sites. You can reset the statistics at any time.


The number of removed pop-up windows that contained advertising since the start of the statistics.


The number of removed JavaScripts that contained advertising since the start of the statistics. JavaScript is an interpreted script language from Netscape that can be used on Web pages. Some websites use JavaScript to hide advertising. WebWasher detects and disables most JavaScript stealth mechanisms.


The number of removed layers that contained advertising since the start of the statistics. Some websites use the dynamic HTML command <LAYER> to place advertising over the Web page.


The number of removed frames that contained advertising since the start of the statistics. Frames allow a browser's screen to be split into sections. Some sites display advertising in a separate frame. WebWasher detects and completely removes advertising frames.


The number of removed forms that contained advertising since the start of the statistics.


The number of kilobytes that have been sent by your browser to servers of websites. Most of the data consists of simple HTTP GET commands that tell the server which text and images should be transferred.


The number of kilobytes that have been received by your browser without using a proxy, e.g. via Intranet or local network.


The number of kilobytes that have been received by your browser via a proxy, e.g. firewall, ISP account.


Displays date and time since the statistics was started. You can reset the statistics at any time.


Resets all numbers of the statistics to zero. You need to confirm that you really want to reset the statistics.


The number of images received and displayed on your browser.


The number of connections made by your browser. A connection is a single transfer of an object like text or image from a website to your browser.


WebWasher can be run in a mode that allows others to use your PC as a WebWasher gateway. This is particularly helpful in Intranets of companies when you do not want to install WebWasher on each computer. Instead you can the run the program on a single server system. The clients need then to change their HTTP proxy settings of the browser to the IP-address of the WebWasher gateway.

You can connect systems with non-Windows operating system (e.g. UNIX workstations) to WebWasher, too.


"More >>" expands the window to show extra information or options.

"<< Less" reduces the window to hide extra information or options.


Opens the Web page where you can buy the WebWasher license.


Here you can enter the name of your company. The text will appear in the ´About´ window.


Type in your name. The text will appear in the ´About´ window.


When you have entered the serial number of your license, please press this button. This will remove the ´Buy & Register´ menu item and change the license note ´Siemens Freeware for non commercial users´ to ´Siemens registered version´.


Enter here the serial number.


Main switch to activate or deactivate the advertising filter. WebWasher removes advertising banners, images and other commercials on Web pages. Surfing speed increases.


Activates filtering of advertising by characteristic dimensions of ad images


Adds a characteristic image dimension that will be filtered.


The height of the image in pixels.


Lists all user-defined characteristic dimensions of ad graphics that will be filtered, too.


Removes a user-defined characteristic dimension.


The width of the image in pixels.


Activates filtering of advertising by characteristic patterns in URLs.


Adds the entered URL to the filter list.


Activates or deactivates the selected entries for filtering.


WebWasher already includes a comprehensive, predefined filter list. In addition you can add complete URLs or characteristic parts of a URL, that should be filtered..


Enter here the complete URL or a characteristic part of a URL, that should be filtered.


Disables filtering by selected entries in the filter list.


Removes the selected entries from the filter list.


Activates filtering of forms.


Activates filtering of frames.


Activates filtering of images.


Activates filtering of layers.


Activates filtering of text links.


Replace filtered images with transparent images. Use this option to keep the original format of Web page layouts.


Activates filtering of Javascripts.


Activates filtering of pop-up windows.


The number of current connections. A connection is a single transfer of an object like text or image from a website to your browser. Browsers can simultaneously request several objects from a Web server.


Expands the whole display.


Reduce the whole display.


Filters special javascript functions that automatically transfer you from one Web page to another one.


Activates or deactivates a characteristic image dimension for filtering.