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With the prices of netbooks coming down as the countdown to the official launch of the iPad, I have done my researched and looked at the BEST tweaks to do for your netbook. These tweaks will work on most any netbook and will make your experience, well much more appealing. If you have $500+ to spend on an iPad, kudos to you. But in my case I have a 8.9″ Acer Aspire One (AAO) 16 SSD and an Lenovo S10, 160 GB. Both are running XP home edition and suits it quite well.

1.) SSD Speed!

If you have an SSD drive in any of your netbooks, like a Dell mini 9 or my Acer Aspire one, you might not be too thrilled with the factory default settings for the write to SSD drive. TRIPLE, yes TRIPLE your speed with a simple script call FlashFire. It basically rewrites the cache writing and enables your drive to come back to blazing FAST speed.

You can download FlashFire here: Flashfire.org

2.)Dump Trial Versions and Crapware from Factory Settings

After looking at my SSD drive, I realized that 30% of the drive was being taken up with bloated unecessary software. interDVD, McAffeem, MS Works, ETC…. After uninstalling most of them, I freed up 2Gb on the drive. Amazing. You can use a software CCleaner to make it easy.

You can download here: www.ccleaner.com/

3.) Want to have a SLICK interface?

USE: RocketDock – Give your netbook a cool and useful one click dock. No more MAC envy here. Its lightweight and customizable. Try it out today.

You can download RockeyDock here: Rocketdock.com

USE: Launchy – Search, Launch and use applications without your mouse. Very clean interface to open your apps. Using the HOT KEY “Alt” + “Spacebar”, a serch box pops up. Simply type in what you want to use and Launchy locates the match and give your the option to open. VERY COOL. VERY COOL indeed. No more clicking on the bottom left for “Start Menu”

You can download Launchy Here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/launchy/

4.) Streamline FireFox

If you are like me, I LOVE firefox. Read on Lifehackers TWEAKS FOR Firefox.

http://lifehacker.com/5360263/maximize-firefox-35s-viewing-area-for-your-netbook

NOTE: I read alot on tweaking the code for Firefox… But personally the OS and browser kept on crashing on me. I just stick the the basics.

NOTE: Same things goes with tweaking XP. Became UNSTABLE after, so I just kept it the same without bloatware. Flashfire DID work wonders.

5.) New wallpaper, XP theme and External Peripherals

This is more the experience than performance. I guess there is a placebo effect with a nice custom looking interface. I plug in my netbook with an external 20″ monitor and wireless keyword. It really work wonders on the usability.  DOOOOO IT. The performance is better than my old PC tower from a few years back and NO FAN noise.

You can find great looking wallpapers online. Just google it. As for the theme, you can find a VISTA looking theme here.

Download and read more here: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20061029/royale-noir/

I hope you enjoy and this leads to a more enjoyable experience on your netbook!

-Anthony