We realise that there may be quite a few owners of new netbooks that are trying to get started with their little laptop and since I have blogged about the various models that are on offer we decided it a good idea to compile some of this information here.  In no particular order...

Set up a bigger monitor for home use: The screen size in netbook ranges from seven to ten inches, and that's pretty small. If you often use the netbook at home or at the office, setting up a bigger external monitor is a good idea. Your eyes will thank you for that.

Don't run a lot of applications in the background: Netbooks are made for ultimate portability and aimed to be a second computer, so it's very different than your average desktop PC. Of course it's good to have all the applications that you usually have in the desktop here. However, it will put a toll in the performance. Be more selective and choose which apps run in the background, or uninstall ones that you rarely use.

Buy an external optical or hard drive: Even with multiple gigas, everybody just can't seem get enough storage nowadays. External optical drives and external hard drives are getting cheaper everyday, so it's not considered an extravagant upgrade. If you still need to read CDs or DVDs, buying an external optical drive is a viable option. If you often switch between computers and need to carry your data with you, an external hard drive is the best way to go.

Additional Storage: Finally, don’t forget that a USB thumb drive can be an excellent adjunct to your netbook. You can get lots of capacity for very little money, and one simple download such as the PortableApps download above can put countless free applications in your pocket for use on your netbook whenever you want.

Defragment: Clean up and defragment the hard drive regularly, at least once a week. The built-in Windows cleanup and defrag tools can be found in Programs - Accessories - System Tools. You can always download third party cleanup and defragmentation programs, but remember – the more software you have installed, the slower your Netbook runs.

Online Hosted Apps: Of course, one of the fundamental concepts behind netbooks is that you can use them with applications that are hosted online. If you don’t already use these, there are excellent, free choices from Zoho and Google Apps. Ulteo gives you 1GB of free online storage, and access to all of the OpenOffice productivity apps online.

Battery Life: For any netbook user, battery life seems to be an issue that just won't go away. Indeed, while netbooks may be ultra portable, their batteries can only extend up to a certain number of hours: 3 hours with a 3-cell battery and proportionally higher with a 6-cell battery and 9-cell battery. Here are some ways to extend your battery life.

Here are some ways to extend your battery life:

1. Demand less from your hard drive: One of the ways you can do this is to defrag regularly. By defragmenting, your hard drive performs better because it repairs the bad sectors in your hard drive. But of course, you do not defrag your netbook while it's on battery mode.
2. Dim your netbook screen: Cut your netbook's resolution and lighting to the lowest performance to increase battery life. Some netbook's allow you to modify your CPU and your cooling systems, so you might want to set them to the lowest level.
3. Close non-important programs: Some unimportant programs that you might want to close while your netbook is on battery mode are Windows Media Player, iTunes, and desktop search. All these programs (substantially) cut down your battery life. Also, if you have an external CD/DVD drive, do not use it while you're on battery mode.
4. Minimize external devices: Plugging USB devices like your USB mouse drain your laptop. So does using Wi-Fi and charging other devices like your iPod. (Charging USB devices while on battery mode, is actually the quickest way to drain your netbook's battery in the shortest possible time.)
5. Increase the RAM: Increasing the RAM allows you to process more with your netbook's memory rather than relying on its virtual memory, which demands more from your hard drive. Take note that adding more RAM actually consumes more energy, so you only have to do this when you use memory-intensive programs that would otherwise heavily use your virtual memory.
6. Keep your battery contacts clean: Make it a habit to clean your battery's metal contacts every two months with a cloth moistened with rubbing alcohol. This keeps power transfer from your battery more efficient.
7. Take care of your battery: Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. When a battery is charged, you should use it every two to three weeks. Do not let your netbook's Li-On battery completely discharge because it will affect the memory.
8. Clean your netbook: There's a lot of sense in periodically cleaning your netbook; your netbook will operate more efficiently because it becomes cooler. Clean your netbook's air vents with a cloth or keyboard cleaner.
9. Do not multi-task: Do one thing at a time on your netbook while you are on battery mode. Do one thing at a time. Set your mind completely on one thing rather than opening your email client, listening to music and typing at the same time. If you do this, you will only drain your battery without getting anything done.

Graphical Settings: You can also optimize XP’s appearance settings to improve performance. There is no need to let all the graphical effects slow down your Netbook. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Go to Start – Settings - Control Panel
2. Click System and go to the Advanced tab
3. In the Performance Options window select Adjust for best performance
4. Click OK

This will turn off all visual effects and give your Windows a pre-XP look. If you still want XP look like XP, leave the following boxes ticked:

• Show shadows under menus
• Show shadows under mouse pointer
• Show translucent selection rectangle
• Use drop shadows for icons labels on the desktop
• Use visual styles on windows and buttons

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”.

Internet Browser Customisations: 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.

To do that right-click on the toolbar - click Customize - a new window will open - check the Use Small Icons checkbox.

Another tip for Firefox and Chrome users - press F11 when you need more space. All toolbars and the status bar will disappear. You won’t have any problems if you want to access tabs - just put your cursor on top of the screen and your tabs will reappear. I found this quite handy when browsing through photos or looking at maps.

Menu Bar of Internet Explorer

Google Chrome: I usually favor Firefox when using a high-end computer or laptop, but on a netbook, Google’s open source Chrome browser is an extremely lightweight browser that is winning lots of speed competitions. It’s only available for Windows for the moment, but will be out in a Linux version early next year.

Adjust Windows’ power management settings: For example, Netbook Maniac suggests turning the monitor off after two minutes of idle time.

Unnecessary Devices: Disable unnecessary devices, such as Bluetooth, FireWire, and Wi-Fi, to save battery power.

Auto-Hide the Taskbar: 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”.

Enjoy the use...  thanks.  Stephen