Have a netbook and want to get more out of it? You're not alone. We've experienced the frustration of trying to make the most of the tiny display. We've struggled with diminishing battery life. We've been hounded by slow speed. And we've wondered how to take full advantage of USB flash drives. But we've found help--and it's all free. Here are ten no-cost pieces of downloadable software that will take away some of the woes associated with netbooks. They'll make it easier and more fun to get your work done, too.
Indefinite Workspace Area
If you're finding it hard to accomodate all your programs in your small netbook display, there is actually a way to expand your workspace area. 360desktop is a great freebie that gives you as much space on your desktop as you want--and breathtaking vistas as well. It transforms your Windows desktop into a 360° panoramic workspace. You can pan your desktop through 360°, giving you almost unlimited desktop space.
Get a Second Shell
SecondShell is a small and portable app that adds a handful of useful enhancements for the Windows shell that can make it easier for you to use your netbook. You can maximize windows horizontally or vertically via hotkeys, resizing non-resizable windows, create customizable hotkeys, and lets you move or resize by clicking anywhere in the window and dragging the mouse. It even has an option to change the Caps Lock button into middle mouse button.
Turn Your Netbook into an E-Reader
If you have not yet realized it, netbook can be used as an e-book reader. The main difference between an e-book reader and netbook is the way they are displayed in the screen - horizontally instead of vertically. That's exactly what Eeerotate does - rotate the screen display vertically so that can make it easier to read. Once the orientation is changed, the mouse cursor will also be rotated vertically for easy navigation.
A Slimmer and Fitter PDF Reader
Speaking of e-book, PDF is also one of the common format for an e-book and you will need a good reader for accessing PDF files. Of course, Adobe Reader is there, but the bloatware it is, it is not suitable for a netbook. So the best choice for your netbook would be Sumatra PDF which doesn't have as many features as another free program, Foxit Reader. But it is half the size of Foxit (which is pretty small already). And it's far superior to the Adobe product. It's fast and does a very nice, straight-ahead job of PDF viewing.
Keep an Eye on Battery Usage
It's harrowing when you race against your notebook PC's battery life. As paranoia sets in, you may find yourself wasting time compulsively hovering over the battery tray icon for an exact reading. BattCursor helps ease this tension by displaying the remaining battery percentage prominently, right under your cursor. This rather simple feature is lightweight, so it won't accelerate battery drain. It is also robust and customizable. You can change the cursor color, text color, font, size, and position, with different settings based on the power level. also includes settings such as automatic screen dimming and power profile switching to lengthen battery life.
Apps on the Move
With the limited power of a netbook, you won't want to strain your Netbook with too many programs installed. So copy the PortableApps software suite -- an all-in-one package of portable software - to a USB flash drive, or similar device, plug the unit into a PC, and all your apps--plus your contacts, documents, and bookmarks--are available independent of your system.
Intelligent Screen Display
A netbook that knows when it is daytime or nighttime and adjust the screen display automatically for a more optimized viewing. Sounds like science fiction? Can't believe it? You should because that's what F.lux can do for your netbook. it makes the color of your computer's display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.
Stay Away from the Touchpad
When your thumb or palm accidentally grazes a laptop's touchpad, cursor can jump, resulting in garbled text or even an unwanted mouse-click. In this situation, Touchfreeze can come in handyand disable your laptop's touchpad while you type. Actually, Touchfreeze disables touchpad tapping, which is what causes the aforementioned problems. (It doesn't matter if your cursor moves while you're typing, as long as that movement isn't followed by a tap--the touchpad equivalent of clicking a mouse.) If you've been tearing your hair out due to flaky laptop behavior, Touchfreeze may just solve the problem.
Multiple Desktops for Your Netbook
You can get more workspace area for your netbook with virtual desktops apps. Each desktop is completely separate from the other, it has its own look and feel, and its own applications running in it. Dexpot lets you create multiple virtual desktops, and you can rotate through space to switch among them.
A Full-Featured Image Editor Under One MB
Fotografix is a no-frills photo editing software that doesn't require a gig of RAM or half of your hard drive for swap space, but that doesn't mean it skimps on the features. For one thing, it's literally tiny, weighing in at under one megabyte fully installed, including all its included brush shapes and macro scripts. It also sips delicately your system's available RAM, making it well suited to netbooks or other systems with limited resources. Because it's an inherently resource-thrifty application, its user interface isn't showy: Dialog boxes are fairly basic and to-the-point. But that doesn't mean you won't find all the tools you need to do basic image fixes----color correction, brightness, contrast----and beyond. Fotografix supports layers, and it comes with a basic selection of common, popular image modification tools that let you apply to an image.
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