Astrill Application:OpenWeb Features

Browser Selection

Browser Selection helps you to select which browser will tunnel thru Astrill Application

1. Click Setting

2. Click Browser

3. Select Internet Browser you want to tunnel

4. Click OK

Site Filter

Site Filter is one of the Openweb features that will give you options which sites you want to go through VPN. Note that you have to be in Expert mode to see the additional features under your Settings menu, see how to switch to Expert mode.

1. Site Filter feature is under the Settings Menu.

2. Once you click on the Site Filter feature, you will see it is set to "Tunnel all Sites" mode as default.

3. Site Filter modes, click on the drop down arrow button to show the Site Filter modes.

Tunnel all sites

This mode will allow all sites will go through VPN and is best for your privacy protection

1. To choose Tunnel all Sites mode, go to Settings menu then choose Site Filter.

2. By default it is set to Tunnel all Sites mode

3. Click OK, now all sites will go through VPN

Tunnel only those sites

This mode will allow you to specify the only site/s you wish to go through VPN.

1. Click the drop down arrow and select Tunnel only these sites

2. Enter the site you want to tunnel via VPN (Example: google.com)

3. click OK to save

Exclude these sites

Exclude these sites, this mode will allow you to exclude site/s to go through VPN.

1. Click the drop down arrow and select Exclude these sites.

2. Enter which site/s you do not want to tunnel thru VPN (Example: google.com)

3. Click OK to save

Ads Blocker

Ads Blocker will allow you to block annoying Ads

1. Ads Blocker is under Setting

2. Specify which sites you want to block

3. Click OK to save the settings

Media Recorder

TODO: upload screen of each Astrill feature, and put numbers and explain those numbers below, and also explain what the features does, and what actions user must perform.

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Video Accelerator

Video Accelerator accelerates streaming video from sites like Youtube, Vimeo, Vevo, Hulu, etc… thus letting you watch streaming videos without buffering (even in China).

1. Video Accelerator feature is under the Settings Menu under Advance Options

2. Select Video Accelerator to activate

3. Click OK to accelerates streaming video

Smart Mode

Smart Mode (a.k.a. GFW Mode) is made specifically for customers in China with a goal to accelerate web surfing. When Smart Mode is enabled (in the Settings Menu), only blocked sites will be opened through Astrill servers, while all other sites will be loaded directly.

1. To choose Smart Mode, go to Settings menu then click User Interface.

2. Select Show extra buttons

3. Click OK to show Smart mode icon

4. Click Smart mode icon to enable

OpenWeb Options

TODO: upload screen of each Astrill feature, and put numbers and explain those numbers below, and also explain what the features does, and what actions user must perform.

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Advanced Options

TODO: upload screen of each Astrill feature, and put numbers and explain those numbers below, and also explain what the features does, and what actions user must perform.

1. Advanced Option is under Settings

2. Keep connection – This option lets you keep connection even when you switch to another Astrill server (from drop-down list) or when you turn Astrill OFF (using ON/OFF button). This is especially useful when you are downloading a file and want to switch to another server. Normally Astrill would disconnect all connections thus your download would be aborted. With this new option you can change this behavior.

3. Auto CLear Cookies - this option, when checked, will tell Astrill to clear all browser and Flash cookies whenever you switch to another sever or turn Astrill ON or OFF. This is very useful for some web sites which remember you using cookies, so even if you are using VPN, they will know your default location. We have also added an option to the tray/context menu “Clear Cookies” which you can use to manually clear all cookies whenever you wish. This is very convenient too as it clears nasty Flash Cookies which are normally very hard to remove (you would need to go to Adobe web site to do that). When we are at explaining how sites tracking your location by cookies, let’s mention that some sites (like syfy.com) track your timezone as well ! Thus even if you are using VPN, that site will show you are not in USA and will not let you watch any videos. This is very easy to fix – just set your system timezone to let’s say UTC-8 which is California time zone. (you might need to restart browser or refresh the page – Ctrl-F5)

4. Stream Flash Directly – this option tries to stream flash videos directly (without VPN). Some sites don’t check location when streaming (Hulu is an exception tho). Thus using this option you can speed up your video streaming but usually our VPN is very fast thus you will not notice any difference.

5. Video Accelerator – this option enabled a special component in Astrill which accelerates video streaming thus, in most cases, prevents buffering and provides smooth video watching experience. This option works with Youtube, Vevo, Hulu, Vimeo and so many other video streaming sites. Video Accelerator is especially useful when your ISP throttles single TCP sessions (like most Chinese ISPs do for International connections). We have disabled this option by default as for some users it might not work good.

6. Youtube Burst Mode – This option lets you stream Youtube in burst mode whenever possible thus avoiding excessive buffering