NetBook - NoteBook

19 Dec 2011
Looking for a cool NetBook for my girlfriend... I come up with these results:
HP Mini Series drawn my attention.Whole Greek Market is "giving away" HP Mini 110 Series, in a price close to 300 euros (store price - 25 euros for Internet Orders).

HP Mini 110 , equipped with Intel Atom N455 - 1.66 Ghz - 512 MB cache , 1Gb RAM (user upgrade to 2 Gb possible) , and Graphic by Intel GMA.

Coming back home, i walk around HP / Intel sites... and i discovered... :
With just a few euros more , close to 300 - 320 euro you can have HP Mini 210 Series (newer model) with the following (important) differences:
Intel Atom N570 - 1.66 Ghz - 1MB Cache - Same ram capabilities as 110 Series - Graphics by Intel HD & extra colours to select & better sound.
PS : Although is possible to find some models of 210 series equipped with the "old" Atom N455.

Dissapointed by Web Sites:
Almost every Greek Web Site demonstrating / selling Mini 210 Series was indicating wrong technical data of proposed Mini 210:

GetItNow and Multirama was advising 512 Cache for N570 instead of 1 MB - Although Max Ram (2 Gb) was correct (GetItNow) or not advised at all (Multirama).

e-shop.gr , M-Systems & Public was correctly advising Atom cache 1MB but max RAM was wrong (1 Gb instead of 2)

Plaisio was not advising cache of Atom N570 at all , and ram was not correct (1Gb instead of 2)

Finally i was not able to locate a correct presentation in any major PC Greek Shop of the Mini 210 Series. I had to "combine" what i read on HP website and on Intel Web Site to understand what the hell i'm going to buy.
So Regretfull..... :-(
Also HP Mini 210 Greek Datasheet has a bad "info" for ram..
Obviously HP in this Greek datasheet wants to say that you can add 1 gigabyte, meaning a total of 2 GB can be used as RAM.

HP Mini 110 Greek Datasheet here..

Skroutz here.

Windows Tweaking (Tips/Tricks/Various)

Tips bellow have been tested (and working) in Win7 - 64bit.
1. Toolbar for browsing Programs like XP
Create a new toolbar and drive the toolbar to folder C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

2. Programs Classic Menu like XP on the start menu
Check these articles here:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/21992/show-the-classic-all-programs-menu-in-the-start-menu-in-windows-7/

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/index.html

3. Create a Toolbar similar to the well know "quick launch" tool bar of WinXP:
Create new toolbar -> Select Folder : -> %appdata%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
Then right click on this new toolbar and uncheck "show text" and "show title". Drag n Drop to the left and you are fine. This toolbar includes the classic "Show Desktop" button. As well includes the "aero view" of the opened windows.
 Source : http://www.askvg.com/how-to-get-the-good-old-quick-launch-toolbar-back-in-windows-7/

4. Make a script for "show desktop" - runs even from command line.
make a new scf file and put the following lines:
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=explorer.exe,3
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop
save it and run it thru Win or thru command line.

source : http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/questions/101-251698

5. Win 7 Microsoft Tips
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee851557.aspx

6. Reg Hack : Disable Windows Lock
This tip disable locking of windows either automatically or manually (w key + L)
RegPath:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableLockWorkstation"=dword:00000001

If System subfolder doesn't exist under "Policies" then create it on your own.
If "DisableLockWorkstation" doesn't exist as a "dword" key then create it on your own.
Value 1 means that Windows can't be locked. Value "0" means that windows locking is enabled.

7. Reg Hack : Change Screen Saver Time 
If policies are applied by a LAN Server / administrator then go to Reg Path:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop]
"ScreenSaveTimeOut"="1800"
"ScreenSaverIsSecure"="1"
"ScreenSaveActive"="1"
In case of a home machine , search registry for key "ScreenSaveTime".

8. Outlook Archive (pst) file size limit & hack
Outlook 2010 archive (pst file) has a size limit of 20Gb.
Outlook 2003 archive has a size limit of 2 Gb.
This size limit can be changed/ hacked using registry editor following this procedure.
Although if archive is too big, access to this pst file is very slow by Outlook so is recommended to create a second archive folder and drop there some old emails.