[SQU] ICMP for a Dummie? And fastest accelarator?

I Run and installed a 2.4.almost stable squid server to function as an
accelarator,
I installed this behind a firewall and noticed that the (Almost default)
squid proxy server sends a ping to the client.

What exactly is the purpose of this?

I want this squid server to function ONLY as an accelarator, what options
make this as fast as possible?

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