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  • Useful Netbook Software

    With short battery lives and small resolution screens Netbooks, unlike many other computers on the market, could so with some specific software for their use.

    Now, not all of those I’ve found are specifically designed for Netbooks, but all are relevant. And they’re designed for Windows XP.

    Battery Display

    If your Netbook didn’t come with model-specific battery display then you’ll be left with the rather weak XP default. My favourite options is BatteryBar, although there is also Power Meter Plus.

    CPU Accelerator

    Mz Cpu Accelerator does a simple thing, but it does it well. It increases the priority of the current application that is in use. If, like me, you normally just view one application at a time, such as Firefox, then this work brilliantly.

    Display Improvement

    F.lux is a rather curious utility that makes the colour of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day – warm at night and like sunlight during the day. Obviously this is neither specific to Netbooks nor Laptops in general, but due to the nature of Netbook being used anywhere and everywhere, often on a lap and up-close.

    I run it on my Acer and don’t notice it. But that’s a good thing – tell it to return to normal and you will notice the difference. But otherwise it remains discreet and just does what it says it will.

    Drive Image

    If your hard drive is made by Maxtor or Seagate, then you can download the free DiscWizard software from their site. This is a re-badged version of the, usually chargeable, Acronis True Image software.

    If you have a Maxtor hard drive then they sell the rather more obviously badged Acronis True Image WD Edition.

    USB Boot Disks

    With a lack of CD drives in Netbooks, the ability to boot from USB keys is essential in the case of any problems. UNetbootin will download one of a number of OS’ and install them onto a USB key ready to be booted from. Not only can you choice from their rather long list, but you can also add your own options.

    Performance Booster

    Ahh, if only XP could have the ReadyBoost technology that they use in Vista and Windows 7, where a USB key can be used to increase performance. But you can! eBoostr is an XP equivalent of ReadyBoost. I’ve not tried it myself, but there is a trial to download and it then costs from £13 depending on your requirements.

    Power Management

    Including a battery meter, Notebook Hardware Control allows you to control and modify CPU and battery information on your system. What functionality is available is pretty dependant on your system, but it’s worth giving it a try. But watch out for that huge EULA during installation…

    HotKeyz (added 15/07/2009)

    A wonderfully discrete and compact piece of software, HotKeyz allows you to create shortcut keys for running applications.

    Update: Read more Netbook software recommendations

  • I’ve got the brains, you’ve got the looks

    After having Google ads on my site for a little over a month, I thought it was time to review how they were doing.

    They are pretty discreet in comparison with many other blogs, with emphasis on the top post. And I’m happy to report that I’m making just enough money to pay for hosting, which is all I wanted. Thanks.

    That means I’ll leave it as it is and not “tinker”. I certainly won’t be adding sidebar ads, pop-ups, etc!

  • Internet Monitoring

    When you have young children it’s important to monitor their online activity. As my daughter has got older, however, I have reduced the amount of such monitoring I do, giving her more privacy.

    At first I used CyberPatrol, which is a paid-for product that will do everything from barring particular websites to time restricting program and internet usage. In time I moved to the free Windows Live Family Safety – this would monitor and restrict internet usage. I also had my daughters email settings send me emails that she received. Now both of these have gone (the latter longer than the former).

    Now I no longer restrict what sites she can view but instead rely on being able to check her viewing history. She uses IE as a browser and I can check her viewing history at any point. I also know her email password – and she knows she’s not allowed to change it. In both cases it’s down to spot checks (assuming I make them) which makes it more of a threat of being caught than anything else. None-the-less she’s mature enough now to know what’s wrong and what’s right and that I can give her the level of trust that allows me to do this.

    Before you wonder why she doesn’t just clear her viewing history, well, apart from it being obvious that she has, I’ve taken steps in that I’ve created two scripts. These (and they work up to and including IE8) will switch off and on the “General” tab in the Options, which is where the option to clear history exists. This isn’t fool-proof but will certainly do for my needs.

    Here’s the code to turn the tab OFF.

    REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftInternet Explorer Control Panel]
"ProgramsTab"=dword:00000000
"ContentTab"=dword:00000000
"GeneralTab"=dword:00000001
"ConnectionsTab"=dword:00000000
"AdvancedTab"=dword:00000000
"SecurityTab"=dword:00000000
"PrivacyTab"=dword:00000000

    And here’s the code to turn the tab back ON.

    REGEDIT4

[-HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwarePoliciesMicrosoftInternet ExplorerControl Panel]

    Both should be saved as .reg extensions and executed – they need to be run only once.

    The first script adds a new entry into the registry and allows you to turn specific tabs off – in this case the General tab, but you can turn off others simply by changing their corresponding dword to 00000001.
    The second script removes this new entry and, hence, restores any hidden tabs.

    Alternatively, download the scripts here from.

  • Friends wanted?

    Now I won’t mention which blog I found this on, but doesn’t this look a little, erm, odd…

    Advertise Here

    Surely he’s not advertising for friends? Is he?

  • Ikea and the art of furniture assembly

    I’ve been off work this week – hence the lack of blogs. And I’ve been building the Ikea furniture that was delivered. Oh, it’s been fun. My hands and knees are raw, but it’s done.

    The dresser took me 4 hours yesterday. 4 long, frustrating hours. Whoever designed the system of putting the feet on that dressers needs shooting.

    But not everything was their fault. I built it in the living room as the dining room was already pretty full – the intention was to move it into the dining room once done. What could go wrong? Well, maybe the opening between the two rooms isn’t as tall as the dresser. Doh!

    Anyway, it’s all done now. My computer is now in a corner of the dining room. All I’m lacking is a sturdy shelf – I bought one from Ikea but I don’t think it will take enough weight.

    Now I’m off to buy some telephone cables… at the moment my broadband connection is relying on an extension reel run casually through the middle of the living room 😉