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Welcome to the BT2K
Frequently-Asked Questions Page!
Simply scroll down to get answers to these
common questions:
What is BrowserTune ("BT"), anyway?
What's new about BT2K compared to earlier versions?
Can BT hurt my system?
Are the tests complete?
Are the tests fair?
Are the tests Windows-specific?
What happens if my browser fails a test?
How long with BT take to run?
Start BrowserTune2000!
Introduction/FAQ:
I'm Fred Langa, the author of this site. You may know me from my
previous work as VP/Editorial Director at WINDOWS Magazine and HomePC, or as
Editor in Chief of Byte Magazine, or from various appearances at trade shows and
on TV and radio.
These pages grew from my real-life frustrations in running Web sites. The HotSpots
Page I maintain has attracted tens of millions of visitors; my own personal site
is more modest, but also gets over a million visits a year. I try to design the
pages so that they'll look and act okay no matter what browser you use. It's not
easy, and I found myself creating test pages to try out different browser
features. After a year of developing a private collection of custom test pages,
I made them available to the public and the original BrowserTune was the result:
A comprehensive suite of useful, practical, real-world browser tests.
BrowserTune has been through several major revisions and hundreds of smaller
refinements. BrowserTune2000 is the newest version: It reorganizes the tests for
better navigation, implements many reader suggestions about the earlier versions
and adds a ton of new, highly automated tests. BrowserTune2000
now tests your browser's ability to handle close to 300 standard,
"legal" HTML (Web page) functions and features. BrowserTune2000 is
very, very thorough!!) Back to top.
What's in BT2K?
As with previous versions, BrowserTune2000 is a comprehensive series of web
pages that each safely and noninvasively tests one or more essential real-life
functions and features of your browser.
In all, BT2K thoroughly and safely tests close to 300 separate browser
features and functions from the bedrock basics up to Dynamic HTML, Cascading
Style Sheets, multimedia, streaming audio and video, Java, ActiveX/OCX,
scripting, push "channels," applications- and desktop-integration,
virus protection, data binding, security and more. (Whew!) BT2K also includes
all the tests that were in all previous versions, but they’ve all
been recoded and refreshed for better performance with today’s newest
browsers.
What's more, BT2K now offers a fast, highly automatic "Two
Minute Torture Test" that's the fastest, simplest way we know to ensure
that your browser's basic functions are OK.
BrowserTune 2000 is divided into three parts: The three levels of
testing build on each other. You can run just Level One, or Level One and Two,
or (best of all) Levels One, Two and Three.
LEVEL ONE: BT2K will start by looking at
five of the most common browser trouble spots--- the areas that
most often interfere with proper browser operation. These preliminary, very
basic tests take only 2-5 minutes, and ensure that your browser's core functions
are at least minimally OK.
If your browser passes the five preliminary tests you then can run
either or both of the next two levels, or exit the tests.
LEVEL TWO: The "BT2K TWO-MINUTE
TORTURE TEST" is a fast, highly-automated series of diagnostic tests that
takes just minutes to run. It quickly examines about 50 separate elements of
your browser, focusing on the two-dozen most-common browser trouble spots,
including slow throughput. To the largest degree possible the tests are
self-running with automatic scoring of the test results!
This test thoroughly exercises many of the most-commonly-used features and
functions of your browser. If your browser successfully complete the torture
test, you can have high confidence that all your browser's most important
functions and features are working properly.
At the end of Level Two, you'll get a free, detailed, personalized written
analysis (via email) of your browser's performance!
After running Level Two, you may exit the tests or go onto Level three:
LEVEL THREE: The
"BT2K FULL TEST SUITE" lets you examine any or all of BT2K's detailed,
incredibly thorough additional tests. Go as deep or as shallow as you wish: You
can test anywhere from one to over 300 separate features and
functions of your browser with automatic scoring of the test results! You can
use these tests to zero in on a specific problem uncovered by the Two-Minute
Torture Test, or to explore all your browser has to offer, or to ensure
that everything---and I mean everything---is working OK.
You may run anywhere from one to all of Level Three's tests; you also can
exit the tests at any time.
Back to top.
Will BrowserTune2000
Harm My System? Nothing on these pages should alter your browser or
system settings in any way whatsoever. Back to top.
Are the Tests
Complete? In the sense of being "thorough," yes. But in
the sense of being "done," no, these tests are not complete and may
never be: BrowserTune has gone through six major revisions and literally
hundreds of minor changes, improvements, additions and alterations. We're
constantly modifying these pages as new standards emerge and as new technologies
move from the fringe into common usage on the Web. Check back regularly! (And
you're invited to submit suggestions for new tests!) Back
to top.
Are the Tests Fair?
BrowserTune2000 strives to be browser-neutral. The tests involve only
"legal," standard HTML and focus on functions in common use
today--functions required for optimal utility and enjoyment of real-life pages
found on today's mainstream intranets and on the World Wide Web. But no browser
completely passes all the tests! There are some things in BrowserTune2000 that
Microsoft's Internet Explorer stumbles on; others that Netscape Communicator
trips over and so on. No browser is perfect, and these tests will show you the
strengths and weaknesses of yours. (Please--don't shoot the messenger!)
In any case, if you're serious about your surfing--I sure am--it can be very
instructive to fire up competing browsers and see how they handle these pages
side by side. The differences can be as surprising as they are informative, and
you're the only one who can decide which mix of supported and unsupported HTML
features is most important to you. Back to top.
How Windows-Specific are
the tests? Something like 90+ percent of the world's computers run
Windows, so we do test for browser compatibility with some Windows standards
such as AVI video, the BMP format, and Object Linking and Embedding support.
However, we also test for things such as Mac and UNIX audio and video standards
support. While the focus here is Windows, no matter what OS you use, this test
suite will thoroughly examine all your browser's most essential features. Back
to top.
Okay, What If My Browser
Fails a Test? There are some things you really can
"tune-up" in most browsers, and we'll help you with those. Other
things that go wrong can be fixed. And many other elements of browsers and
browser add-ons and plug-ins are hardwired, so your basic choice with these is
binary: You either use a given browser or plug-in, or not. With dozens of
browsers and hundreds--perhaps thousands--of plug-ins and controls available,
you have a lot of choice, and BrowserTune is precisely the tool to let you
determine if your browser and plug-ins are doing what you want and need. Bottom
line: As you work through the tests, if your browser fails on one or more pages,
don't worry--in most cases, it's easy to upgrade with free or low-cost offerings
from the likes of Microsoft or Netscape and others.
And if it does turn out your favorite browser lacks some advanced feature or
ability, please note that my sites use only relatively simple HTML enhancements,
so you're not missing vital information--the content is there but you're not
seeing things at their best. Back to top.
How Long Will
BrowserTune2000 Take to Run? the 2 Minute Torture Test takes---
well, about 2 minutes. 8-) But the full version of BrowserTune is a
very thorough, and takes longer (but you can bail out at any time--you're not
locked into running the full battery of tests). If you leave the tests in
midstream, you'll cause no harm to anything--there's nothing to undo or reset or
clean up! So the literal answer is "only as long as you want it to."
A typical single test takes just a few seconds to run, plus whatever time you
spend reading the explanation and interpreting the tests. A few tests take
longer, but we tell you before they run. Other factors include your actual
connection speed (which is one of the things we'll test), and whether you're
running a standalone browser test or are testing two browsers side by side.
Other variables such as network traffic, the load on our server (it usually
peaks from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Time [GMT-5] every weekday) and your ISP's
throughput also can greatly affect how long the tests take to run.
Incidentally, BrowserTune2000 will test all these elements for
you as we proceed!
If you're selecting just a few tests, you can be in and out of
BT2K is a couple minutes. On the other hand, there's enough information and
follow-up links here so you could literally spend hours, if you choose to.
But the beauty of BT2K is that it's up to you. Go as fast or
slow as you like; as deep or as shallow as you like; in as little or as much
time as you wish! Back to top.
Okay, You're just about ready to start! Remember, nothing on
these pages will alter your system settings in any way, and you can bail out at
any time. Just click on the link below, and you're on your way!
Start BrowserTune2000!
Restart Tests
Report A Bug · Jump
to Fred's Web Hotspots Page
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