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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 for WinMag has attracted tens of millions of visitors; my own personal site is
more modest, but also gets over a million visitors 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 new 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 WinMag 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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