Ten Ways to Optimize Your Netbook
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August 12th, 2009 written by Christoph in Tips and Tricks
The advent of netbooks has recently taken the PC market by storm—accounting for nearly 20 percent of global laptop sales in Q1 2009. Many have tested the performance of these mini-notebooks and compared them to laptops (check out Cisco Cheng’s PC Magazine article and John Morris’ ZDNet post). Netbooks are a little slower than their full PC cousins, but with the right tweaks, you can squeeze the last bit of speed and functionality out of these mini-machines.
TuneUp Blog presents the 10 best tips for your netbooks
- Use a lightweight Media Player and codec pack to play all your favorite videos and music (e.g. Cole2k Codec Pack and Media Player Classic HC 1.2).
Media Player Classic
- Disable all of the unnecessary background programs on your system. These are likely to slow down any computer—not just netbooks. Check back on this blog for a more detailed guide on how to do that.
- Check to see if your netbooks allow for a RAM upgrade. This can usually be done in a matter of minutes!
- Uninstall programs you no longer use, especially trial software, as these can clutter up the drive. Also, try to note the date that these versions will expire; this will remind you to get rid of the programs that you can no longer use.
- Defrag the hard drive to better manage your data and keep your computer running fast. We recommend using a utility to safely and consistently conduct this on a regular basis.
- Reduce the user interface of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and other Web browsers to better utilize the smaller “real estate” on your netbook. Right-click on the upper menu bar of your browser and uncheck unnecessary menu items such as status bars, favorite bars, and the like.
Menu Bar of Internet Explorer
- Go back to the classic Windows look and feel. Animations can hinder the system’s performance. To do that under XP, right-click on your desktop and go to “Properties”. Under the “Design” entry, select the classic design and hit “OK.” For Vista, right-click on your desktop and select “Personalize”. Go to “Window Color and Appearance” and select “Open classic appearance properties for more color options”. Select one of the classic designs and click “OK”.
- Adjust Windows’ power management settings. For example, NetBook Maniac suggests turning the monitor off after two minutes of idle time.
- Disable unnecessary devices, such as Bluetooth, FireWire, and Wi-Fi, to save battery power.
- Don’t run too many applications at the same time. As Michael J. Miller notes, multitasking is better suited for a notebook, whereas netbooks are designed for basic use like word processing and basic Web browsing.
UPDATE – Our Reader Raphael just shared these two excellent tips with us: - Browsing in fullscreen mode (F11 on keyboard) is much more comfortable on the tiny screen.
- In Windows, it is possible to auto-hide the taskbar. This will give you more visible space for the applications! The taskbar shows up when you hover your mouse near the specified area. To do that, right-click on the taskbar and select “Properties”. Check “Auto-hide the taskbar” and hit “OK”.
You’re a netbook owner?
Think there’s something missing here?
Add it to our comments and we’ll feature your suggestion in our next article!
34 Responses to “Ten Ways to Optimize Your Netbook”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
- Tweaking XP performance on a netbook? – MacNN Forums
- Netbook Performance Questions – Computer Forums
- Your Questions About Net Books Laptops Mini | Laptopsunder500bucks.com
- Your Questions About Net Books Laptops Mini | Laptopsunder500bucks.com
August 17, 2009 at 11:41 am
I’d like to add another hint:
In Windows, it is possible to auto-hide the taskbar. This will give you more visible space for the applications! The taskbar shows up when you hover your mouse near the specified area.
August 17, 2009 at 11:44 am
Sorry I forgot to mention that browsing in fullscreen mode (F11 on keyboard) is much more comfortable on the tiny screen.
August 17, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Yep, good suggestions – every bit helps when you need more screen espace
We’ll consider adding your tips to the article shortly – or for another post on netbooks. Thx!
Sandro,
Editor in Chief
August 19, 2009 at 11:59 am
Check the support websites of the manufacturer to get BIOS updates for your netbook. Frequently these updates increase your performance or solve problems with heating/fans etc.
However, be sure to follow the exact description on how to install the update since flashing BIOS is a risky process.
December 27, 2009 at 7:54 am
Another tip-
Netbooks need virus protection. They can’t hold something big like McAfee or Norton. Try Panda Cloud Antivirus. It’s light, and uses the internet to update itself, so it’s very low-maintenance. Best of all, it’s free!
January 2, 2010 at 11:47 am
Hi Julia, great feedback!! The question here is: Can it protect you from dangers while you’re offline? It basically is a virus scan but cannot offer a live protection when you’re not connected.
Did you ever try Microsoft Security Essentials? From my experience it is very leightweight and suitable for netbooks: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/
Best,
Sandro
TuneUp Blog Editor in Chief
January 6, 2010 at 4:21 pm
@Sandro Villinger
When I install MSE while it’s working there’s also a service working background. Its name is “msmpeng.exe”. The problem is it uses about 40mb RAM. so it seems it’s not a leightweight AV?
January 8, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Hi Gokhan, in my case the “msmpeng.exe” takes up 63 mbytes of RAM. However, the CPU usage is much lower than any AV I’ve personally ever used or seen. I performed several benchmarks on low-end machines (with 1 or 2 gigs of RAM) and there was no difference in the results. Yes, I agree, 40mb or 60mb might sound “big”, but on todays machines you don’t notice this at all. It’s like having a browser with 5 tabs open. It would have a much more negative impact, if the CPU utilization would permanently be 5-15% (or even more) compared to the average of 0-3% that MSE causes!
Hope I could help,
Sandro
January 11, 2010 at 10:46 am
Hi Sandro,
Thank you for your reply. I have two computers. One of them is a netbook. I installed MSE in both of them. When my desktop computer is idle there is no msmpeng.exe running. It works only when MSE needs to scan sth. but for my netbook, msmpeng.exe continuously running and using at least 40mb RAM. I think it’s a problem for a netbook.(yes not for a strong desktop PC). I know here is not a solution center but maybe you can help me about this issue?
thanks.
January 11, 2010 at 6:59 pm
Hi Gokhan, rest assure that even on a netbook the 40mb of RAM (you have 1024 in total) does not slow down operations. In fact I would even say: Rather keep MSE in the background and be protected instead of disabling it and in return increase the chance of virus or spyware infection (which in turn would slow down the PC much more noticeably). I just installed MSE on a Asus EeePC 1000 which has 1 GByte RAM and Windows 7 – using it I did not notice a difference.
There is no way to decrease the amount of RAM MSE uses without disabling it – and this is something I would not recommend to anyone.
Best,
Sandro
March 18, 2010 at 9:16 am
Netbooks are made for Browsing. I suggest you guys don’t use any sort of big applications like Photoshop, etc.. Use only those Programs which consume less memory and processor. I suggest you to use Chrome than IE or Mozilla, because Chrome consumes less memory and CPU.
March 18, 2010 at 12:55 pm
Absolutely, good point. And Chrome has less of a cluttered interface than the other browsers. Btw. I always grab the latest version from http://fileforum.betanews.com/browse/WWW-Internet/Browsers/new.
Cheers, Sandro
April 21, 2010 at 7:56 am
Please help!
I can’t play youtube in my msi netbook, even live streaming video. Is there any solution for this problem.
thanks,
April 21, 2010 at 7:58 am
Sure, Julius,
First please give me ur netbook config.
April 21, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Julius, waiting for your reply
September 2, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Julius, you probably just need to either install or reinstall your flash software. See if this works http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
September 10, 2010 at 2:56 am
where are you julius?
anyways, i installed panda cloud antivirus? I read from your conversations that it doesn’t work when offline, so when i inserted usb discs or other external cards, my netbook is vulnerable on threats? i would like to install MSE but i doubt if it would works fine on my netbook. im using hp mini intel atom 1gbRAM windows 7..
im thinking to uninstall the panda cloud and install MSE.. what should i do since panda users say panda is best, other says MSE is best. I use my netbook online and offline.
September 10, 2010 at 10:42 am
Hey Intsik, I suggest you should try it – you probably won’t find a (good) antivirus solution with a lower resource impact. As I mentioned above, opening a browser takes up more resources than letting MSE run in the background.
Also: There’s a new Beta version of MSE out, which has been optimized a bit. https://connect.microsoft.com/securityessentials/Downloads. (you need to log in with a Windows Live ID and apply for the beta, if you like).
I haven’t thoroughly tested Panda,but these days AV solutions recognize between 98-99.7% of all threads. When it comes to security, they are all on par – what it boils down to is interface, easy of use, performance, additional features etc. As I said, MSE is my personal favorite as it doesn’t bother me – AT ALL – like many other virus products do. It just sits there, hidden in the taskbar, and the only time I see a red warning message is when it found something – exactly as it should be!
Best, Sandro
September 11, 2010 at 1:30 am
thanks a lot sandro..
hey, as i am doing this comment, my distant friend chat me that it is good that i also install antimalware. So that i could scan my pc once a week? is it practical to download that software? is MSE not enough? i installed malwarebytes. IT leaves my PC with an antivirus and antimalware.
September 11, 2010 at 12:25 am
Thanks a lot Sandro! I am now using MSE
September 12, 2010 at 12:57 am
Nope, MSE also scans for all kinds of malware like viruses, spyware, trojans (etc.) – one solution is enough! I wouldn’t install more than one security solution, as it tends to make things unstable and slow in many cases.
September 12, 2010 at 1:52 pm
Oh I see! This antimalware doesn’t run like a regular antivirus. It only runs when you wanted to run it. It doesn’t autorun. Since MSE is enough, I would uninstall the antimalware. Thanks!
September 12, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Oh ok, I thought you were using http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php (which, from what I read, has some sort of active background protection – however I haven’t used it in a while). If it’s not actively running, then having it installed probably won’t hurt
But MSE should cover all your security needs.
Best, Sandro
September 12, 2010 at 2:22 pm
The description that i used is malwarebyte’s antimalware. Same product in your link. I thought that it doesn’t run actively coz there’s no icon in the taskbar. However, i stil uninstall the antimalware and i felt that there’s an improvement in the performance. You’re right, one solution is enough.
thanks and regards,
September 12, 2010 at 2:33 pm
i have this microsoft silverlight and adobe flash.. should i let the both software run in my netbook? wouldn’t it hurt my unit?
September 12, 2010 at 2:36 pm
Nope, they are both two seperate pieces of web technology – you’ll probably need both
However, neither run in the background all the time (thus not slowing down your PC), you can leave them on your system without compromising performance.
September 12, 2010 at 3:25 pm
Thanks for the information.
September 12, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Great discussion onboard, but Intsik, I would just add a little point to what Sandro has already told. You say that you are using a netbook, so I assume that you will be online most of the time with it. However, when online, malware is the least of your problems. There’s a whole lot of web threats lurking to hunt you even when you are looking legit websites. There phishing, search cache poison, and a plenty of 0 day threats, intrusion attacks, ping flood attacks etc that Microsoft Security Essentials will fail successfully (pun intended) to protect you and your device from. So I recommend you turn up to a commercial software. Today several companies have special versions of Internet Security Suites especially crafted for netbooks, which do not task the system too much. Do check the offering from Kaspersky Labs and also check AVG’s offerings. And the best protection from online threats is provided by none other than our own common sense. Do install it
.
Enjoy a safe net,
Jeet.
November 29, 2010 at 5:47 pm
I would also suggest ot use slim software such as slim browser to navigate the internet (otherwise it is better to use firefox in safe mode), protect yourself with ESET Smart Security 4, play multimedia with vlc (windows media player 6.5 in xp) and clean trash and registry with ccleaner.
May 6, 2011 at 10:03 pm
I would like to say that removing Desktop Icons, cleaning Temp items, disabling unneccessary windows functions, using CCleaner, TuneUp, Advanced SystemCare or Uniblue PowerSuite, and upgrade your drivers