NOTE: The information contained in this document is only intended as an overview of NavCom Cache Control. All users are encouraged to read the manual accompanying this distribution. To read the manual, just open the "User Manual" folder and double-click on the Netscape document named "Start Here."
Introduction
Netscape Navigator and Communicator both use caching to enhance their performance. A cache is used to store copies of Web pages and graphics locally. Fetching local copies of these items is much faster than re-retrieving them from the network.
Most users are familiar with Netscape's disk cache. It's the place where Netscape browsers save information (HTML files, images, sounds, etc.) about pages the user has visited. If a user revisits a page that's already been cached, the browser will get the information about that site from the cache instead of the network.
Unfortunately, disk cache, while speedier than retrieving a page from over a network, is still limited by the speed of disk I/O, and the overhead of sifting through and reading a multitude of relatively small disk files.
There is a way to get around this bottleneck, however: memory cache. Instead of using a hard drive to write and read information from pages, Netscape browsers can use RAM to hold this data. Since memory I/O is orders of magnitude faster than disk I/O, substantial performance gains can be achieved by holding page information in a memory cache.
Unfortunately, unlike their Wintel counterparts, Macintosh users have had no simple way to access and modify the memory cache settings in Netscape browsers. There is no control in the Preferences dialog for setting memory cache. Before NavCom Cache Control, the only ways to activate and modify memory cache were by (1) hacking the browser's resources with ResEdit (not recommended), or (2) manually editing the Netscape Preferences file (not for the faint of heart).
Enter NavCom Cache Control 1.2.1. It's a PowerPC application that allows you to easily set the disk and memory cache for Navigator or Communicator.
Requirements
NavCom Cache Control is a PowerPC-only application, designed to run on Macintosh PowerPC computers and clones. It will not run on computers using a 680x0 processor.
NavCom Cache Control requires system software that supports the Appearance Manager. Since Mac OS 8 and later support Appearance out of the box, it will run on them without the need for
additional software. For pre-8 systems, you must have the Appearance extension installed.
The Appearance extension and its accompanying control panel are available from Apple. They are not provided in the NavCom Cache Control distribution. If you want to support Appearance Manager functions on a pre-8 system, instructions and software can be found on Apple's Web site.
NavCom Cache Control works with Netscape Preferences files introduced with the 4.x series of Netscape browsers (Navigator and Communicator). Although there has been some anecdotal evidence that it works with browsers in the 3.x series, NavCom Cache Control has not been (and will not be) tested with those browsers.
Setting Up and Using NavCom Cache Control
With this distribution, instructions on how to set up and use NavCom Control have been moved to the User Manual. To read the manual, just open the "User Manual" folder and double-click on the Netscape document named "Start Here."
Tips and Recommendations
With this distribution, tips and recommendations for using NavCom Control have been moved to the User Manual. To read the manual, just open the "User Manual" folder and double-click on the Netscape document named "Start Here."
Credits, etc.
This application is based on a thread fragment in comp.infosystems.www.browsers.mac. In particular, it uses suggestions in Simon Fraser's post on 10/20/98, entitled "Re: How to speed up Netscape Communicator (maybe)". That post can be found at:
http://www.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=403269025
Mr. Fraser works for Netscape. I do not. Neither Mr. Fraser nor Netscape have approved or endorsed anything done in NavCom Cache Control 1.2.1. And, for that matter, I have neither approved nor endorsed anything Mr. Fraser or Netscape has done in their browsers. Any similarity with persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
The foundation for this application was layed in a series of MacPerl scripts traveling under the moniker of NS Cache Control. Even though that script made it up to version 1.0.5, InfoMac only has 1.0.2. They stopped accepting our submissions when we switched over to StuffIt 5.0. Coincidence? You decide...
This application is distributed without any warranty whatsoever, express or implied.
NavCom Cache Control is shareware.
You can use NavCom Cache Control for seven days from the time you first launch it. If it hasn't been registered by the end of that period, it will lock itself. You won't be able to use it again until a registration code is provided.
NavCom Cache Control is licensed on a per-computer basis. If you intend to run it on more than one computer, a separate registration fee must be payed for each copy put into service. At its price, the dubious business economics of NavCom Cache Control go completely south when one registration fee is divided among two, ten, or a hundred Macs.
There are two ways to register NavCom Cache Control, "buckware" and Kagi. Each method has its own registration fee. Details on both of these options can be found in the User Manual and the "Register NavCom Cache Control" folder included with this distribution.
The registration fee for the buckware option is US $1.00. The registration fee for Kagi users is US $3.00. The difference in price is due to the increased costs of collecting fees through Kagi.
