Light software for old netbook

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Blitz

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Jan 27, 2015
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Hi,
my girlfriend have old netbook - dell inspiron mini 1018. It's really weak netbook with this spec.: Intel atom N455 CPU, 1 GB ram, graphics media acceleration for mobile. Legal windows 7 starter. I just reinstall it, but I need a list good light software set, for basic operations(online streaming, antivirus, music, office, pdf, network frameworks, silverlight, and etc. I think you understand what I need, and help for me. Thanks.:)
 
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Here is MalwareTips lets start with antivirus :)
I offer you Avast Free Antivirus (which is very good for novice users and light with usefull protection features)
Just install these shields with custom installation.
File Shield - Web Shield..Do not install mail shield. I do suggest look carefully other tools most of them useless and they will eat RAM ;)
Office : LibreOffice or WPS (formerly Kingsoft)
PDF Reader : Sumatra PDF (very little tool)

She will mainly use her browser. So you need a very light web browser because of this little RAM. Do not install Chrome! It is RAM hungry..
I just offer you a combo. Firefox+Firemin... It uses 3-4 MB RAM on my machine.She needs a regularly updated, light, well known browser for extensions compability etc. But do not forget the Firemin, this is the magical tool.
Add Adguard adblocker to Firefox for adblocking, then give her the laptop.
 
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Since you just wiped it, you may want to try Win10 on it, free upgrade when it releases (not sure if Starter edition matters; it isn't mentioned specifically).

NOT Chrome (RAM hog), probably best to stick with IE
nitroPDF for speed; Foxit for features
Office online or Google Docs
I've always liked WinAmp for music (v2)
Any of the free AVs pretty much (read user reviews here)
Edit: AdGuard NOT AdBlock
 
I assume your girlfriend have 32-bit system. However based on my experience, it's hard to run win 7 on 1 GB RAM. I think you should try lightweight linux OS for this case.
 
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Umbra said:
if it just browsing , buy Shadow Defender , install it on shadow mode at boot , use Windows Defender and IE , she will never see the difference ! :D
Click to expand...
That's insane. I hope you're kidding. (But some do that sort of thing.)

She'll notice when all her files are always missing and browsing is always slow since there's no cache.

Layer 8 firewall: user training.
 
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Maybe I Should go with microsoft stuff - MSE, IE, Silverlight and etc.?
 
Keep it simple.

Uninstall anything that is not required. You should not need Microsoft Silverlight, or Java.

Default WMP or VLC for music /video.

Set up Windows Update without Optional updates.

SysInternal's Autoruns should be helpful and visit the BlackViper.com website.
 
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I actually use Google Chrome browser for my Acer netbook (Intel Atom n450; 2 Gig RAM). Now, it runs Windows 8.1 32-bit. Chrome is way, way better for me than Firefox (or any other variant of it).

When I bought this netbook having Windows 7 Starter with 1 Gig, I was using Firefox. But it hangs and hangs. But when I tried Chrome, I was very thankful that I tried it.

So, for me, use Chrome as your browser. Yes, it consumes more memory, but the browser doesn't hang most of the time.
 
If you can afford the money you can buy Webroot SecureAnywhere AV.
It doesn't take disk space about 80 MB:eek:;) and when scanning it's using max 20-25 MB of RAM;)

As for browser you can use K-Meleon i heard it's very light on system:)
and since is Mozilla based browser you can use Mozilla based plug-inns.
And for an adblocker i want to suggest uBlock or uBlock Origin which both are lighter from Adguard which is also light.

K-Meleon: http://kmeleonbrowser.org/
http://malwaretips.com/threads/k-meleon-browser-development-starts-again.31571/#post-406107
 
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You can also use TimeFreeze by Toolwiz instead of buying Shadow Defender :D Bitdefender Free+ Toolwiz Time Freeze ;)
 
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bunchuu said:
I assume your girlfriend have 32-bit system. However based on my experience, it's hard to run win 7 on 1 GB RAM. I think you should try lightweight linux OS for this case.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with you. If you install Zorin 9 Lite can run smoothly the most common browsers such as Chrome, Firefox or Opera, also Thunderbird VLC ... no learning curve and better performance
 
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A light antivirus like MSE should be fine alongside with Sandboxie (with enough guidance) to browse on website without any problems.

Browsers; let's give a shoot from such classic or simple browser like Slimboat or Slimjet; try alternatives like Opera which based on my experience; it does very well on our family Toshiba Netbook (1GB Ram and Intel Atom).

Flash player is fine and no need for Java and Silverlight.

Some products are better to run portable: http://portableapps.com

________________________________________________

But for lesser worries, I suggest to install Puppy Linux which very capable to your old netbook; it can run very smoothly and enough productive tools for your basic tasks.
 
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Blitz said:
Maybe I Should go with microsoft stuff - MSE, IE, Silverlight and etc.?
Click to expand...
MSE, no. It has the lowest detection rates and lags in performance--anything would be an upgrade in both areas.

You don't really get to "choose" Silverlight, Flash, Java, .NET etc., you have to install those frameworks if you run software that requires them. Until then, don't worry about them. Silverlight is on its way out anyway. I'd say Flash is but it's been "on its way out" for years now...

The important thing with these frameworks is to let them update themselves daily.
 
Anyway with 1gb Ram you can go higher than XP or lightweight linux like XFCE or similar
 
Naw, go really lightweight:

MS_DOS_Wide.jpg


It's what the Game of Thrones author uses!
 
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The cache is wiped on reboot; therefore it would have to redownload everything on frequently visited sites.

Unless there's a new feature I'm unaware of; I haven't used SD since 1.2.
 
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