16 Aug 10 Six Ways to Make Your Netbook More Like a Notebook
Ever wish your netbook had just a little more processing power, storage capacity, and battery life? In other words, does it sometimes leave you longing for a real laptop? Fear not: With a few simple tweaks, you can make your netbook run more like a notebook.
1. Improve the battery life
A netbook with a 3-cell battery isn’t likely to run more than about two hours on a single charge. Even if you splurged on a 6-cell battery, chances are good you’re running out of juice sooner than you’d like. Here’s how to stretch that battery to the limit:
Drop screen brightness as low as you can stand it. According to some recent Microsoft studies, the screen accounts for 43% of power consumption. The lower the brightness level, the less power you’ll burn.
Turn off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi whenever possible, like when you’re on a train or airplane.
Invest in an external power pack. I prefer these to bigger and/or secondary netbook batteries, as they’re easier to keep charged and can power other devices as well. jkOnTheRun recently discussed some of the latest external battery packs.
2. Double or triple your storage on the cheap
If you bought an inexpensive or early-generation netbook, chances are good it came with a low-capacity solid-state drive (SSD) — probably just 4-8GB. Fortunately, chances are also good that it came with one or two Secure Digital (SD) slots, and SD media is cheap: Here’s an 8GB card for just $11.99 and a 16GB card for $25.49.
No room at the SD-slot inn? How about a 16GB USB flash drive for $29.49? Or a 250GB portable USB hard drive for $82? Needless to say, you can easily upgrade your storage without spending a fortune.
3. Switch to “lean” software
Most netbooks have pokey processors and limited RAM. Consequently, Windows XP and especially Vista tend to run like molasses. If you can upgrade the RAM, by all means do so. Beyond that, consider switching from the usual bloatware to smaller, nimbler applications. Some examples:
In place of Adobe Reader, use Foxit Reader to view PDFs.
In place of Internet Explorer, use Firefox or, better yet, Google Chrome. Lifehacker found the latter to be the fastest of the browsers.
In place of a Norton or McAfee security suite, use nothing. Seriously. Windows Defender does a reliable job of stopping most malware. Firefox will scan your downloads for viruses. And Windows’ firewall will thwart most outside intrusions. Most users go way overboard when it comes to system-choking security software.
Use Thunderbird in place of Outlook, or skip an e-mail client altogether and check your mail on the Web when traveling.
Using apps like these won’t make your netbook faster, per se, but they may make it seem less slow.
4. Keep your stuff in sync
Many users buy netbooks to use as secondary notebooks — systems they tote when taking short trips or trying to travel light. Of course, you still need access to all your documents and data, and that means signing up for some kind of synchronization service.
For example, Dropbox, Syncplicity, and SugarSync automatically keep your files in sync between two or more computers, while at the same time storing them in “the cloud” for anytime, anywhere access. All three services charge nominal monthly fees if you want more than a few gigabytes of storage.
If you can live without the cloud aspect of the equation, try Windows Live Sync (formerly FolderShare). It quickly and efficiently keeps files synchronized, and it’s free to boot (though you’re limited to a maximum of 20 libraries, each with up to 20,000 files–not a significant limit for most users).
Finally, don’t forget Foxmarks, which synchronizes your Firefox bookmarks and passwords. It’s now available for Internet Explorer as well.
5. Get 3G Internet on the run
Few netbooks have built-in modems, but you can still get high-speed Internet access just about anywhere. The secret: your cell phone. For example, you can turn a Windows Mobile phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. Or turn a Palm Centro or Treo into a wireless modem. Even an iPhone 3G can pull modem duty, provided you’re willing to jailbreak it.
No smartphone? Many regular phones can be “tethered” to netbooks as well. Check with your carrier, or hit Google and search for your phone model and “tethering.”
6. Have fun on the run
Because they’re light on processing power, netbooks aren’t exactly ideal for games or video. But that doesn’t mean your travels have to be all work and no play. Start with GOG.com, a site that sells discounted downloads of older games like Painkiller and Fallout 2. These titles have much lower system requirements than the latest games, so even your netbook should run them just fine.
As for movies, TV shows, and the like, you can’t beat free video-streaming sites like Fancast and Hulu — provided you’ve got access to Wi-Fi. If not, consider stocking up on downloads from Amazon or iTunes. Most netbooks have just enough horsepower to play full-screen video. If yours doesn’t, well, even half-screen video is better than nothing.
Okay, your turn: What tricks of the netbook trade have you learned that make the little wonders more travel-friendly? Hit the Comments and share your thoughts.
07 Aug 10 Windows 7 Lite edition 128 mb ram comment experience
hey,its quite long since my last update,however since now in my semester break i gonna try this lite edition of windows 7
*update:
Tested on Acer 4315 with 256mb ram,Intel Celeron 2.1 ghz : working like charm!
Realise Windows Search function dissapear/lost after install MS Office 2007,however this version of win already including everthing.exe software so the problem consider solved
Tested on Dell Lattitude 2100 1.5gb ram,Intel atom 1.6ghz :this windows runs great however since it is lite edition it support touchscreen but wont run perfectly on my DELL pc :c
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=56WU3KA5
Year: 2010
Architecture: x86
Type discs: CD
Language: English
Tablet: a
Size: 698 Mb
Lightweight pure operating system “Windows 7″
Includes:
* Internet Explorer v8
* Gadget for Windows 7
* Windows media player and its codecs
* Windows Firewall
* Parental Control
* Driver brings normal
* The installation is only 1.57 GB (excluding paging and hibernate files)
* Image Viewer works correctly
* Increased compatibility with programs and games (eg Office 2010 beta works)
Does not include:
* Drivers (printers, scanners, sound, fax)
* Screen Savers
* Wallpapers
* Windows Media Center
* Windows DVD maker
* Tablet PC
* Voice Support
* Backup files
* Unnecessary Packages
Minimum printing requirements:
CPU: Intel ® Pentium ® 3 1.8 GHz
RAM: 128MB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 2GB
Rec. Requirements:
CPU: 2.4 GHz
RAM: 256 MB
Space Hard Disk: 2GB
Checksums
MD55AE61DAF80944655CB1F1C15E4CA3AE1
SHA-1063CE55F8E7512B9E70D8B88E4DEBA840C58671A
CRC32A7E2389D
Year: 2010
Architecture: x86
Type discs: CD
Language: English
Tablet: a
Size: 698 Mb
Video:
”
basicly this windows 7 lite edition is better than windows vista n xp lite..less error n conflict found 
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=56WU3KA5
23 Apr 10 Malaysian PC users dodge faulty antivirus update
PETALING JAYA: Malaysian computer users were apparently spared when a McAfee antivirus update went awry on Wednesday, reportedly causing PCs all over the world to keep rebooting.
A check with several businesses and organisations in the Klang Valley by The Star yesterday came up with zero victims.
This could be because local businesses and other PC users depend on other brands of antivirus
The Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) said its 400-plus computers were not affected. “The operating system on our PCs is not the one targeted by the McAfee update,” a spokesman for the organisation said. MDeC is the custodian of the MSC Malaysia initiative.
Software giant Microsoft Malaysia also reported that it was unaffected. A company spokesman said its customer support service did not receive any queries from PC users about the problem.
Chip maker Intel Malaysia declined to comment. The New York Times had reported that Intel Corp in the United States was one of the companies hit by the defective update, according to a ZDNet blog (http://bit.ly/cvSa4c).
Any business or individual affected by the flawed update can get the manual fix from McAfee’s website http://bit.ly/akIYik and from Star TechCentral, http://bit.ly/8ZdTwv. McAfee is working on an automated fix for the problem.
Wire service AFP reported that a routine antivirus update from McAfee confused a valid Windows file with a virus on Wednesday, disrupting computers around the world
It was reported that the problem hit corporate users of Microsoft’s Windows XP Service Pack 3 operating system.
McAfee released another update later in the day to fix the problem. But by then, the US-based Internet Storm Center, which monitors web problems, said it had received reports of networks with thousands of downed machines and organisations that had to shut down business until the problem was fixed
31 Mar 10 HOW TO TRANSFER FROM BLOGSPOT AND LARGE SIZE OF XML TO WORDPRESS
Well as im still testing this free domain and hosting from byethost.com and co.cc, i found that there is few problem with their service,one of the big issue is i cannot tranfer all my post from blogspot to wordpress using IMPORT tools,
so what i did is
20 Mar 10 Thx again CALVYN for Domain & Hosting Sponsorship Program | IT Engineer’s Blog
today just check up my website information aka expiration date and suprisingly calvyn already update and extend my website for another 1 year..thx bro
Domain Name: HEYZIQ.COM
Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE
Whois Server: whois.melbourneit.com
Referral URL: http://www.melbourneit.com
Name Server: NS15.MYEXHOST.COM
Name Server: NS16.MYEXHOST.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 18-mar-2010
Creation Date: 29-mar-2009
Expiration Date: 29-mar-2011
02 Feb 10 DIY change multi function display bulb (MFD) peugeot 206/ naza bestari
ahh suddenly this appen,so this the time to change the bulb
so wat u need is screwdriver or allenkey…as long can open the screw n new bulb ( quite expensive if buy from nasim or bla2)
1st: hold both side n pull it upwards gently..
2nd: when u take out the upper part, this is wat u will c,take out both screw there, take care dun drop the screw.. if drop then stuck in ur blower
3rd: after looses the screw c the rear part.. take out the bulb by pulling out the bulb holder.. (move left or right)
4th: take out old bulb (need sharp eyes make sure the bulb leg fit ngam2) n change to the new 1… to reassemble back juz revert the process
settle…
