Someone reviewed v on Jul 5, 2022

Pros: 555

Cons: 555

Bottom Line: 555

aruprc reviewed v0.2.93.115 on Sep 16, 2007

Works but sometimes the icon stops showing download activity, the web pages certainly load faster and thats with Opera and FF with Fasterfox as well as NetEagle optimized connection. Google has clearly implied privacy concerns in their privacy page so those who have privacy issues shouldn't use it.

geeknik reviewed v0.2.93.115 on Jun 17, 2007

I think it has it's uses. And if you're worried about Google tracking your movements on the Internet, it's nothing compared to what you're ISP is doing. And if you're that scared, go hide in a closet and put on your tinfoil hat.

Umapathy reviewed v0.2.93.115 on Jun 17, 2007

I am in Sri Lanka and I have adsl connection in Colombo but I haven't seen any real web acceleration here. I am skeptical about this product. It is pointless to install any software which doesn't do the work which it claims as capable.
I like Google Earth very much and I have very much impressed. Product like this certainly reduce the reputation of Google.

AnthonyB reviewed v0.2.93.115 on Jun 16, 2007

If you want to help the largest 'polluter' of the internet then install away..

Very poor form trying to fob off usage tracking software in the form of somethingt o help speed up your web browsing.

tuneslover reviewed v0.2.93.115 on Jun 16, 2007

increases web speed? :| , how? :(

Ryusennin reviewed v0.2.93.115 on Jun 15, 2007

Beware, spyware. Get Fasterfox instead (and it's more configurable).

Prospero424 reviewed v0.2.70.88 on May 31, 2007

Even knowing that Google has put this out for their own data mining purposes, there is something to be said for prefetching and caching to improve speed as long as your connection and your habits warrant it. For example: those with a broadband connection of 1.5Mb or less could see a substantial benefit, and that's a lot of people.

For those concerned about privacy, this is the bottom line:

This service basically has the capability to track the same type of usage metrics that your ISP can/does, except it is completely disabled when viewing encrypted pages.

I think most people would be shocked if they knew just how many of their regular pages use a Google Analytics Java script. So unless you're using something like NoScript or just turn Java scripts off in your browser, Google is going to have data on this sort of activity even without GWA.

If you're honestly and reasonably concerned about privacy, you should be using some combination of SSL/HTTPS, VPN, dynamic routing (Anonymizer, Tor), a Java blocker for your browser, a cookie manager, and several other encryption and/or obfuscation options, anyway. If you're not, you're going to be the "victim" of the sort of data mining GWA is capable of regardless of whether or not you use it.

uberfly reviewed v0.2.70.88 on Feb 14, 2007

Why anyone would willingly install software that looks, smells and acts exactly like spyware is a mystery. Google's business model involves keeping tract of your every movement and squeezing a few schillings out of it along the way. This is just spyware with a fancy name. Stay away, it does nothing worthwhile for your browsing experience.

IanT3cs reviewed v0.2.70.88 on Feb 14, 2007

I shouldn't condemn something I haven't tried, and I won't try GWA. Simply because "compuable" puts such a complelling case for NOT using it.
Thanks for speaking out compuable. And passionatly! Remind us all sometimes. Google is just another multinational.

Ian W

[deXter] reviewed v0.2.69.87 on Jan 3, 2007

Pros:

- Compression of text based data (like html) reduces bandwidth usage and may increase speed
- GWA's local (on pc) cache works across browsers so you can have a same cache for different browsers
- Prefetching is helpful in preloading pages especially in forums, search results etc.

Cons:

- Server based cache is a privacy risk
- Sometimes displays outdated webpages from the local cache
- Doesn't support compression of other formats such as images, flash etc
- Not explicitly meant for Dialup (GWA was designed for broadband)

Notreallyhere reviewed v0.2.69.87 on Jan 2, 2007

Not exactly sure how this is working for me. You aren't able to notice any difference in load times, you just have to go by what they say. according to the program it has saved me 16.3 hours in the last few months. It hasn't seemed to hurt, though so I'm not going to uninstall it. Another note though, wikipedia locks you out of editing pages if you have this program installed.

buzzyboop reviewed v0.2.67.85 on Nov 6, 2006

Yes, I am giggling madly here, but at all the scare-mongering that's going on. I use GWA simply because it works and it works well. Note that GWA will not work on secure sites. Also, you can disable GWA for any site you choose.

I do notice improved page load, so it's more a matter of taste and preferences than anything else. For me, I will continue to use GWA. It works great for me.

compuable reviewed v0.2.65.83 on Sep 24, 2006

Giggling Madly Here - PT Barnum Would Have Been Proud!

This is a great program for those users who don't know anything at all regarding how computers and/or the internet actually works, and who just want to experience the "feel good illusion" of (not really) increased speed by having this entirely useless acceleration program on their hard drive.

I always laugh out loud whenever anyone proudly exclaims: "The program 'says' I saved 6.9 hours, so I'm very satisfied!" Big deal; the program could also say: "You're now twice as good-looking" or perhaps even "Congratulations you’re a millionaire!" Without being able to verify any programs' "claims" (or better put 'assertions'); it is just that: A totally unverifiable assertion!

Still you've got to admire Google's chutzpa here! I'm guessing that it has to be the most hilarious bit of shell-game spyware ever invented by any company in the entire history of computer or Internet use and development.

Very clever really, when you consider that the trade off is that users "think" they're getting "increased" internet speed; in exchange for revealing exact the name of every single webpage that you ever visit from the moment that you install Google Web Accelerator until (hopefully) the moment you wise up and remove it.

After Google Web Accelerator is installed it does absolutely nothing to improve browsing. Also Google Web Accelerator collects copies of web pages, (including prefetched pages that you did not even visit), in the Google Web Accelerator cache on your computer.

All this does in effect; is collect and store a gazillion MB of temp files every time you use it for a session of surfing. Try using something like CCleaner after running Google Web Accelerator and browsing the internet for a few hours and see the results for yourself!

And Google gets to know the exact the name of every single webpage that you ever visit for products, news, banking, whatever! This is very valuable information to have; not only does Google know everything you click on, but you get absolutely nothing in return for this info.

Finally, Google admits on their own support page that any and all passwords, e-mail addresses etc. you enter in a web form (e. g. when purchasing an item online) will be funneled via their systems. If you enter personally identifiable information (such as an email address) onto a form on an unencrypted web page, the sites will send this information through Google.

Had he lived long enough to see this, P.T. Barnum; the person who coined the phrase: "A Sucker is Born Every Minute" would most certainly consider those who download, install and leave this program on their computers to be suckers indeed!

war593122 reviewed v0.2.65.83 on Jul 13, 2006

POS! Has never ever worked for me as advertised. In fact it makes my browsing slow. I'm on 8mbps mind you!

zik reviewed v0.2.65.83 on Jul 13, 2006

I have been using this app for over two weeks until now, it has saved me 1.3 hours. Considering i browse around 6 hours per day...
The prefetch function simply doesn't work.
When this one gets improved, then i will rate it better, at the moment it deserves an average rating.

The MAZZTer reviewed v0.2.65.83 on Jul 13, 2006

I don't consider Web Accelerators a good idea. This includes both Google's and NetZero's and others.

First of all, you know how sometimes Google's cache doesn't match the actual page (it's old or whatever)? Now imagine if Google's cache was all you saw, and you couldn't see the new page. That is a side effect of using a Web Accelerator... the chance of outdated content.

But what if this outdated content is a website, and the new "content" is an expired domain, you say? That's why there's Google cache and lots of other archive sites, which can be easily reached WITHOUT a Web Accelerator (tip: Google for cache:http://pageurl/ to quickly access the cache for a page).

Also it doesn't speed up anything WORTH speeding up, ie large downloads (large files are not cached by Google or Web Accelerators, for the simple reason that they're too big), games (dynamic content cannot be cached). Also SSL can't be done over an accelerator (it's always dynamic, and needs to be secure) and any sort of dynamic content (which is what separates ok websites from great ones) can't be cached anyway, since Google cache can only cache static content (this is closely related to my earlier "outdated" point).

Also I did try this once, but I couldn't get the counter to go above 0.0 seconds... that was a really old version though. Also it integrated with Firefox in a way that would have made it difficult to remove... it didn't use the standard extension feature of Firefox to simplify upgrading and uninstalling (I REALLY hope they fixed this by now).

RoSmecher reviewed v0.2.63.81 on Feb 25, 2006

Worst google tool ever, I have only used one other google tool, which is their search and that is good, everything else they have seems to be in beta and not really working very well. anyway i just don't see this thing working very well.

ZenWarrior reviewed v0.2.63.81 on Feb 20, 2006

This is a very easy software application to review. Why is that? It does not work at all.

With products such as this and its new "Trust me" across-computers desktop search [released for use by idiots only], the once-shining Google image is becoming quite tarnished. If this POS is what Google labs and its geniuses are now offering as "innovation," sell your Google stock now--and reinvest in Microsoft and/or Apple.

wognum reviewed v0.2.63.81 on Feb 20, 2006

doenst seem to work...first of all i never see a toolbar in internet explorer of maxthon. i can switch it on, but it just doenst appear.

And after a couple of hours the performance log (or something) tells me that this program has no use for me :-) just no improvement ;(

maybe because i'm behind a router?

ModderXManiac reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 19, 2005

Works incredibly well over my wireless EVDO connection, and I see how this can be good for almost any web host as this will save them a fair amount of bandwidth given Google has basically more bandwidth than any other internet organization in the world, and they are willing to give it up for the sake of a better internet expierience, this application being a good example.

Kudos for Google, kudos for saving bandwidth, and even more kudos for saving me time so I can get around to "other things" in my short life :D

Zoroaster reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 19, 2005

This shall be an end to contardiction between a fact and a decision.
- The fact is I haven't tested Google Web Accelerator, hence a neutral rating of 3
- The decision is to no longer comment a software I haven't tried myself, on this forum and i hope on others dedicated to comparable testimonies.

I may but entirely agree with horsecharles' comments as to the context I consider should be mine in expressing my opinion on a given software.

I believe we sometimes take advantage of another's wisdom to realize what we more or less had conscious of, to wake up in a certain way.

Off topic, sorry for that, but it is an end: this BetaNews is a technical review, not a political gazette. Thanks.

tbaster reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 18, 2005

All I can say is it saves significant chunks of time getting pages, especially graphic-heavy ones. Nice little speed-meter on your browser tells you what you save on each page.

If they aren't using this system to develop personal marketing data for other companies, I could really care less about what is cached or logged by Google. Several hundred million people using the web... and we're worried about interest in our own web browsing? Silly, if you think about it.

horsecharles reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 18, 2005

We need to counter-balance the numerous amount of confused reviewers.

1. You do NOT allow your non-like/belief of/in an entire software category to affect your rating, much less the heinous act of thrashing an app!!! You MAY include your relevant concerns/dislikes in the body of text, but that's IT Confucius-breath! You may ONLY go strictly by HOW does the app rate vs competitors in its category / with similar functions.
2. I have no use/desire for Web Accelerators(i'd give that whole category a 1), but my rating reflects the merit of this app as compared to its competitors.

photonboy reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 18, 2005

I agree with the other concerns. I don't think this is a good idea.

Steve33062 reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 18, 2005

The product does what it says it does. I have a broadband connection with a 6MB download speed & web pages are usually fast anyways on my machine but this made all my pages that I visit often even faster. I happen to like google, they are an inovative corporation(my E-MAIL is GMAIL & I love that also) and for the people SOOOO afraid that google is spying on them somehow, don't use google but don't give software that works well & as advertised a LOW rating because you think they are spying on you.

Aires reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 18, 2005

A well intentioned idea badly executed.

improvelence reviewed v0.2.62.80 on Nov 18, 2005

You people are giving google access to EVERYTHING you do and say. I would not reccomend using these types of things, but then again if if your not doing anything wrong there is nothing to worry about. Still, it seems a little 1984-ish to me...although, I am a gmail user...its just so convenient.

httpd.confused reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Nov 17, 2005

I find it hilarious that Google killed downloads of this market research tool the same day (or the day after) I posted my earlier review, which pointed to privacy concerns. As it turned out, Google was serving cached copies of password-protected content to anyone and everyone. Yet the same idiots who criticized me were giving it a 5-star rating.

Next time, criticize less, and pay attention more.

digitalking reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Nov 4, 2005

As for right now, this program is excellent, especially for sites you visit everyday. Even with broadband, I noticed a huge difference. There is no hourglass in the browser at all. The page comes up instantly. In the future though, this may crush the Internet, if Google is caching links on every web page, whether someone visits them or not. But if these files are already in Google's cache on one of their supposed 250,000 servers, their is no affect towards the website itself, just Google's servers, and people's browsing experience is way smoother.

dreadlox reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 27, 2005

This is a total menace! It will kill our webservers with extra load and bandwidth, it will kill the bandwidth in the ISP's networks, it will destort all webserver stats!

Whe whole idea of the WWW is that people click on links when they want to follow them - NOT click ALL link in case they should want to follow them later! What will happen if a lot of people will install this hoax? It will tripple the bandwidth from all web browsers and choke the ISP's networks. That is NOT the way to accelerate the web - it's the exact opposite!

I hope that ALL serious anti-virus programs will detect this as a virus and "clean it away"!

cyberguy reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 27, 2005

Hillard, stop being a sanctimonious dork.
s.h.a.r.p the dial-up comment really was totally disrespectful of those that have no choice but to use dial-up.

As for this program, i agree with sharp on this: I am not interested in purposely installing a program that will give google or anyone else information on my web browsing activities. This is nothing more than just another way for google to mine information from me.

No thanks - 2 stars

war593122 reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 27, 2005

lol look what it does to beta news :(

Hillard reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 26, 2005

A nice and smooth running program. As for SHARP you need to change your name to DULL. Some of us can't get broadband because it's not offered in some areas you a******. Probably some young stupidass living off ma and pa. I bet you don't even have a car payment much less any other responsibilities. People like you are the reason birth control should be used. If not for the fact of stopping a dumba** like you from being born, also stop you from breeding and bringing another freak into this world.

computershack reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 26, 2005

Hmm. Works OK but breaks MSN Messenger and Hotmail from OE/Outlook. Even added exceptions but kept getting bad header errors from aforementioned.

mjm01010101 reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 26, 2005

I like how google doesn't give up. This idea can benefit all. Hopefully they addressed the issues of whether intranet pages aren't cached and forms aren't pre-filled in with previous user's data.

c4p0ne reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 26, 2005

Sucks plain and simple. Maybe thats cause we're not in North America. Anyway, this thing blows. I can't understand why they've set the MSS diferrently (lower then 1500). Must be for some stupid DSL/PPoE issue.

Anyway, its g** so far, but who knows it does show some potential if they really get on the ball and include europe as well.

s.h.a.r.p. reviewed v0.2.60.78 on Oct 26, 2005

the last thing i want is for google to have records of every webpage i've ever been to, on purpose or not. it does what it says it does (but it seems to do a whole lot more behind the scenes), so it gets a couple stars. i guess it's more handy for those on dial-up...but then again, do dial-up users even deserve to be on this internet?

ripn reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on Jun 4, 2005

There is no spyware in this, that is just a stupid comment...google pulled it, but you can still get it at...
http://home.insightbb.com/~google/

kevcole reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

Nice idea however being beta the prefrences did not work for me under XP SP2...also having just found out that it is only for Nth Amerika, Europe certainly explains the lack of activity LOL

Installed fine just needs polishing on some aspects

ecjs reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

It does not accelerate anything at all on my computer. I only see that my ip is Google's now.

It looks like a proxy tool, a really fast proxy tool.

What about Google centralizing everything ?

DarkHound reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

· In order to speed up delivery of content, Google Web Accelerator may retrieve webpage content that you did not request, and store it in your Google Web Accelerator cache.

'nuff said...

stevenyu reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

Nice software, hope one day all the google tools in windows will also be release in linux format

kise reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

Does what it says; but got some nasty HTTP Get header bugs, makes pages missfunctional/not loading. Also some funky license about the privacy; your personal data "could" be send trough Google when using HTTP protocol. Smells spyware to me.

dreamchaser reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

System Requirements
Operating System: Win XP or Win 2000 SP3+
Browser: IE 5.5+ or Firefox 1.0+
Availability: For users in North America and Europe (during beta testing phase)

Hmmm wht abt others ? Its available only for North American Ppl ??

QQ reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

oh dear, that's privacy nightmare! stole my proxy configuration aswell.

[deXter] reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

5 because its the ONLY product that does it for FREE.

Personally I think that Onspeed or Artera Turbo are MUCH better web accelerators (given that they have many servers across the world and support image/ftp/mail compression..etc), but you just can't say no to Google now, can you?

I don't know though why Google designed this keeping broadband users in mind. Broadband means > 256 kbps. I think that IS quite sufficient for ordinary web pages (given GWA's limited acceleration capabilities). I'm using dialup however, and the speed increase is quite noticable.

Although GWA is in a very nascent stage; once they add image compression and more global servers, only then it will become worthwile. But it will take quite some time for that to happen, given that GWA is free..

For those who are looking for some SERIOUS web acceleration, I'd say stick with Onspeed or Artera Turbo... Until Google releases the final version of GWA.

cltx99 reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

No doubt, pages load faster and I'm using ADSL Broadband at 8MBS. Looks like another thumbs up for the people at Google.

I've noticed faster page loading on my primary browser K-meleon and my secondary browser, E2.

After using it for a while, well, it's not worth it. My ADSL is fast enough, without giving out more information than is needed. If the accelration was truly definitive, then OK, but it's not.

In fact, I installed it on my other computer and it brought up pages slower. Hence, I uninstall.

bernis reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

httpd.confused: i keep noticing your 1-point reviews under almost every software that is worth something on fileforum. even ones where you give it one point at first and after you learn how to use software and how it really works you give it more points. I would recommend you spending more time on learning how computer works instead of writing idiotic reviews.

And moreover ... how do you contribute to shareware/freeware comunity that you feel you have right for such criticism? There's no point in assigning lower rating for software that "you don't need" ... most people download software that they need and want to hear opinion from people who actually use it and understand it

justinb reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

seems to work nicely.. pages that normally take some time to load load a little quicker.

Dreimanis reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

2.3 seconds saved already.

Achdine reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 5, 2005

Worth taking a look at the Slashdot article on it, some good info in the comments.

http://slashdot.org/arti...html?tid=217&tid=95

sn0wflake reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

The description says it'll speed up broadband connections. How exactly is yet another browser plugin supposed to improve my 4 Mb connection by 7.5 minutes as the picture depicts?

madx reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

This works great, some privacy concerns, but it does what it says and a good job at it to. Best Web Accelerator yet.

Mirrebex reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

- Well, it´s still a beta program, works fine with firefox, sucks donkey balls in IE. It´s worth a try.. as i always say, Google wants to take over the world.. and they´re doing well..

pvolk reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

Blah, I love google but this program is stupid. I didnt notice any speedup after using it for a while. (with ie) im sure there was some but i couldnt notice. Plus it just uses up more resources that dont need to be used up. That annoying speed thing also crouds the IE bars because its huge and pointless. Plus there are privacy issues. Mabe if they integrated it into the toolbar it would be ok but nothing good can come from this program...nice try tho!

httpd.confused reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

I wouldn't necessarily always figure privacy concerns into a software review--if, say, the privacy policy was worrying--but this bit of software has serious privacy concerns rolled up into the very way it works.

When I read blurbs like "When you use Google Web Accelerator, Google servers receive and log your page requests" and "Google temporarily caches cookies from third party sites that are used in your Web requests", I begin to wonder: What's next? Will Google offer a service where you operate a dumb terminal (i.e. just input devices and a monitor), and they handle all your data for you? I wonder what cute name they'd give that little privacy bomb.

-----

Oh gee, a personal attack from "bernis"... How painful. I revised my review of ACDSee, that's it. But this privacy trap deserves a 1, so I gave it that. It has nothing to do with understanding how it works--the privacy statement speaks for itself. That's how I feel. Deal with it.

I find it ironic that the illustrious "bernis" says "most people download software that they need and want to hear opinion from people who actually use it and understand it", but in his own comment, he totally omits any mention of the software he is "reviewing". Ain't that just too cute?

henrypeck reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

Works well with Firefox but a minimal increase with IE.

mjm01010101 reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

A clever concept, this is essentially being a very large proxy/cache for goog;es privacy-uncaring brethren.

I might use at work, but not home. I could care less about what google sees me doing at work.

Would be slick if they could offer this for entire domains/corps and not have it break anything.

mfarmilo reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

Just tried this, and then immediately removed it. After installing, webpages that normally load in a couple of seconds (even the google page) would take 15 seconds or more before they even started to load. This is using Firefox. I'm assuming something must've been wrong somewhere in my installation, and have therefore not marked the program down accordingly.

skonrad reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

I am also pretty impressed so far, although I would say that I need to do some more testing. But I can feel a little speedup on my connection and adblock still works too.

librarianscott reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

I'm extremely impressed.

I would disregard those comments from people claiming that this just downloads a copy from Google's server. Obviously the caching is more complex than that, with local caching that seems efficient.

Real-world testing with Firefox on cable modem seems to be the kind of tweak that actually does something unlike 99% of the tweaks.

I will go ahead and say it--it is like taking advantage of Opera-like caching with Firefox!

jspk8 reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

sure feel like page load faster. but all the ads are showing too. the ones by adblock and by hosts file. stop using and no ads! so really faster?

wincement reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

WhiteZero, take a look at this:
http://webaccelerator.go...om/support.html#basics2

It says it "(only downloads) the updates if a web page has changed slightly since you last viewed it."

It needs a little more work, but I think the concept is fantastic. It's a slightly different approach that should prove very effective once it's fine-tuned.

WhiteZero reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

All this does is pull up Google's cached versions of websites. So really, even if it does load faster, your getting terribly out-of-date pages.

Worst idea... ever.

MOTVG reviewed v0.1.52.58 Beta on May 4, 2005

If anything this slowed down my internet connection.

I'm using firefox and this program is not compatable with Adblock (it completely bypasses it). The only thing GWA did was slow down my internet connection and did not let some pages load. A lot of work needs to be done on this program(at least for Firefox) before I would recommend anyone to download it.