Norton 360 Version 4 – The best Anti-Virus solution till date

As most of you folks already know, I have become a fan of Norton products ever since I started using Norton Internet Security about 6 months back. The new Norton products and solutions have had a radical shift in terms of performance (which I deem very important), features and even the UI. This time round I got hold of a copy of Norton 360 Version 4 – the new kid(version) in the block!!

First things first – Norton 360, as the name truly suggests is a complete 360⁰ solutions that truly runs out of the box from the time you say go (err… install). Norton 360 takes care of all things related to security for your PC / Laptop / Netbook and also takes care of a few more mundane tasks. It is packed with a powerful Anti-Virus, a super smart Fire-Wall, a password safe storage solution and also a auto-backup feature.

Lets deep dive into each of these features separately and the significant improvements that you get with the new Version 4.

Norton 360’s Anti-Virus Solution: One of the most powerful and yet light weight anti-virus solution that I have seen for quite sometime now and it’s getting better. The most useful and exciting feature that I find is called “Live Scan” – this is switched ON by default and runs whenever it finds the computer usage to be idle or low. “Live Scan” automatically determines whether to run a ‘Quick Scan’ or a ‘Full System Scan’. The advantage that I get with this cool new feature is that it runs usually when I’ve left my comp and gone to grab a cup of coffee or catch up on dinner – so no more hassles of setting up a schedule and making sure your comp is up and running for the scheduled scan to run.

I for once have had issues running scheduled scans – missing most of the schedules all the time, setting up a schedule over the weekend or late times of the day means that your machine needs to run over that time to hit the schedule. Now all that looks passé with this very cool and intuitive option. The best part of all this is that the scan magically ends as soon as you once again start using your computer – so you never feel that any of the computer resources have been sacrificed for the scan.

Norton 360’s File Insight Feature: How often do we download .exe’s / setups and what not off the internet – but how do we know that whatever you’ve downloaded is really legitimate and free of any virus, Trojan or root-kit. The later part is taken care by the anti-virus solution but never the legitimacy of the file. You are always left to make the decision yourselves based on the site from which you have downloaded, the person/forum that recommended it, etc – but even for a seasoned internet person like me, it’s quite a daunting task to decide. That’s when you’ve got help in the form of ‘File Insight’ which checks the file against an online database and reveals some interesting facts, let alone whether the file is safe to use/install. It churns out some cool facts such as the number of users who have downloaded/installed the file, safety level of the file and from where you got it to the physical location on your hard-disk that the file resides on. That’s a lot of cool and interesting facts to consider before you make a choice.

Norton 360’s Firewall : This is a very simple and lucid fire-wall solution, nothing much to worry on and it’s so very simple that if you can use your computer for browsing you can configure the firewall too easily. But I guess the default setting that Norton 360 ships out with is more than enough and you don’t really need to tweak any of the configurations frankly speaking. Also Norton's new SONAR (Symantec Online Network for Advance Response) behavioral monitoring system does a good task in combating phishing attacks and real time surveillance of your PC from attacks of the outside work over the network.

Norton 360’s Identity Safe Storage: Quite a cool option to store your usernames and passwords for the sites that you often visit. All the information is safely encrypted and stored. You now need to only remember one master password to access the safe storage.

But, I am really not a very big fan of this solution since it’s not portable really. In the sense, if I happen to use a public computer at a kiosk or over at a friend’s place – I really can’t harness this solution easily. Also, since I’ve become lazy in not typing the password’s each time to login – over a period of time one tends to forget the actual credentials. There must be a better solution for this problem but I can’t think of one that would be truly safe in all scenarios for now.

Norton 360’s BackUp feature: Looks like Norton is slowly consolidating it’s portfolio and that’s really a boon for users like me and you. The backup feature is pretty tidy and easy to setup and use. A few clicks on configuring your backup drive/media and the locations to backup – you should be ready to go. Believe me it’s a very simple process and best of all it’s right out of the box for all practical purposes.

Norton 360’s backup and recovery tool also provides you a free 2GB of online storage space that you can easily backup your important documents and photos. This free Online Backup is simply too cool if you’re out of home/office on a remote country with only a PC connected to the internet (read an airport) - viola you get access to all your backup files right there online.

Also for an extra charge you can easily increase your online backup storage up to 25GB at $69.99 per year. This is a very cool feature that the other backup / anti-virus products like McAfee currently donot do not offer today.

Performance has really been a deciding feature for me to switch over to Norton (this statement looked very very unlikely about 10 months back – if you were to ask me). There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t choose Norton 360 over the ample number of products that are out there in the market.

Norton 360 1 PC license costs INR 1795 - but the deal is with the 3 PC license at INR 3200, nowadays most of us have a desktop, laptop and netbook - so it does make sense to have a three license one - these also come with 2GB of online storage space. The premium edition includes 25GB of online storage space and a three PC license, the suggested retail price is INR 4025. Both - standard and premium editions of Norton 360 includes a one-year service subscription to use the product and receive Symantec’s protection updates. All Norton 360 users with a valid product subscription are eligible to receive the latest product updates via the subscription service model.

Norton 360 not only protects your computer but also tunes up your system for the best performance like doing a disk defragmentation or fixing driver issues and also backs up essential files – all in the background (now that’s the icing on the cake). The list of features and the great value for money that it provides is simply endless – as I started off this review, it’s truly an out-of-the-box solution where you deploy and completely let it take care of everything – all in the background.

We now have Intel Atom processors to power Tablets and Handhelds

Intel Atom processor’s have been known for their power-saving architecture, proven transistor and circuit design and also unique manufacturing process techniques that have made them the market leader in the netbook market. But now we have a new kid in the block – Tablet PCs!

Tablets PCs have entered the mainstream with the introduction of the Apple iPad. Intel today unveiled its newest Intel Atom processor-based platform (formerly codenamed as "Moorestown") – the chips are called the Z6xx Series Family (codenamed "Lincroft" system-on-chip [SoC]), the Intel Platform Controller Hub MP20 (codenamed "Langwell") and a dedicated Mixed Signal IC (MSIC), codenamed "Briertown."

The new platform aimed at Tablet PCs has been specially repartitioned to include the Intel Atom Processor Z6xx series, which will include the 45nm Intel Atom processor core with onboard 3-D graphics, video encode and decode functions, as well as memory and display controllers into a single SoC design. It will also include the brand new MP20 Platform Controller Hub which supports several system-level functions and I/O blocks. Also the dedicated MSIC integrates power delivery and battery charging, and consolidates a range of analog and digital components.

What’s very interesting with this release is that the new chip platform brings in a very "PC-like" experience with fast Internet, 3-D graphics, multi-point videoconferencing, multi-tasking and advanced voice capabilities. Most importantly full 1080p video support right out of the chip. We have many players like Dell, HP, who are planning to release new Tablets in the coming days which would directly compete with the Apple iPad and Intel’s new Z6xx chips will surely give them a winning hand in it.

Complete list of Best and Free Anti-Virus for your Windows 7 :: Updated on May 2010

Though you may have one of the best operating system's in your computer - a.k.a. Windows 7, you will still need a good anti-virus program to protect your PC from Viruses, Trojans, Root-Kits, etc. There are several paid Anti-Virus solutions from Norton (Symantec), Mc-Afee, etc but when you have a personal PC or laptop and can't really afford spending any more on softwares - well, look at the Free Anti-Virus solutions.

Free Anti-Virus softwares are actually second to none in terms of protection but they lack functionality and a few bells and whistles found exclusively on paid Anti-Virus softwares.

I have put together a list of the Best Free Anti-Virus Solutions that are available currently.

• Avira
• Panda
• AVG Free
• DriveSentry Desktop
• Spyware-doctor

As for the paid Anti-Virus, the Best detections rates are found in these:

• Symantec Norton
• Avira AntiVir
• Panda
• Avast
• Sophos

Go ahead and protect your data - choose a Anti-Virus solution wisely and don't forget to update it often!!

Norton Internet Security 2010 (NIS 2010) – Complete Review

Regular readers of my blog know that I am not a fan of Norton products since the are sluggish and consume a lot of resources. But wait a sec – that was my opinion from ages. Shouldn’t they have improved now? recently when I got my Acer Aspire D250 netbook it came with McAfee installed but that was no good for me. Getting back to Norton, I wanted to really check out their new offerings and see how they have improved when you have many free and fast anti-virus solutions in the market like AVG, AVAST, etc.

Norton has a slew of 3 products lined up – Norton 360 (a complete suite that has all the solutions), Norton Internet Security 2010 (more targeted for Internet Users) and the plain vanilla Norton Antivirus.

I got myself Norton Internet Security 2010 popularly known as NIS, since it boasts to offer complete protection and yet not compromise on performance. It is one of the lightest protection solutions available currently and that makes it much more interesting. Norton Internet Security currently supports Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 – all 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Now this is where it got me interested since my home PC was loaded a few weeks back with Windows 7 64-bit – I was really out there looking for a next gen Anti-Virus for it.

Something that got me interested in Norton Internet Security 2010 was that it uses a new security model. This new security model helps NIS to attain unmatched levels of detection of new malwares. What the new security models does really is that it uses cloud-based intelligence to identify malware in an entirely new which is simply ages ahead of the traditional way of using signatures and behavior-based detection. The new security model also features a real-time reputation system that tracks files and applications and dozens of their attributes such as their age, download source, digital signature, and prevalence(more about this feature in detail later).

First of all – installing NIS was a breeze, except for the 60MB update that it needed to download off the internet.But belive it or not - I had NIS working on PC in less than a minute flat!!! (excluding the 60MB download). This feat by Symantec is simply commendable.

The NIS 2010 interface is all re-vamped and so fresh to look at.

It has 3 very distinct partitions – Computer, Network and Web. Well, these are the only there layers for which we need protection.

• Computer : This has the anti-virus solution which has many new features like enabling of system scan when computer is idle. Also the idle time can be easily set by the user – now this is really a wow for a geek like me. Gone are the days when I had to schedule scans in my PC at mid-night and let my PC run through the night. Now, the scan happens even when I get off my comp to grab a cup of coffee (coz I have my idle time to be 3 mins – 3 mins is too much of an idle time for a geek like me if I am near the comp).
  It also features something called as SONAR 2 (Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response) which is a 2^nd generation system that harnesses all elements of NIS 2010 to make really sophisticated and clever decisions about what to trust and what to convict as a threat or risk. Again, to do this it leverages data from the cloud, network communications and file attributes such as location on the PC, origin information, etc.
• Network : NIS 2010 is not just an Anti-Virus but more of a complete security suit and this is further testimonial to it having a Smart Firewall which repels any possible attacks and also constantly monitors the traffic flow to determine any threat. Intrusion prevention is a key here and also has in-build e-mail protection that helps prevent your PC being used as a botnet by spammers.
• Web : Finally the web. Norton IdentitySafe provides one-click log-ins and automatic form filling to prevent key loggers from stealing your information. Norton Safe Web adds additional protection when you search, shop, and surf the web to stop Internet threats before they can infect your PC. Safe surfing is always the key and this is easily achieved by NIS 2010.

Here’s a small test that I subjected Norton Internet Security 2010 to and it came out with flying colors. I had a exe which was infected with a trojan on my PC. I unassumingly like a lay-man double clicked the exe. This is what came up.Went ahead and clicked on More Details and this popped up.

I was simply amazed at the kind of information that NIS 2010 threw back at me. It picks up information off the cloud and display some very vital statistics like how many people have used this exe and what kind of threat level it carries. This helps me to make a informative decision on whether to go ahead or not (Though it won’t allow me to execute the file – but even before that giving this kind of info is really handy).

Norton Internet Security also comes with a Task Manager – not the plain Windows kind of one, but this is a hybrid one which clearly lets you analyze your system performance over a period of time in time-slices. Important installations can be easily tracked and even tasks that have consumed more CPU or memory can be easily tracked down.

Some of the advantages of using NIS 2010:

• The fastest, lightest security suite you can buy for award-winning protection that won’t slow you down or get in your way.
• Installs faster than any other security suite.
• Boots faster than any other security suite.
• Scans faster than any other security suite.
• Uses less memory than any other security suite.
• Doesn’t impact your PC’s speed when you copy or edit files, install applications or download files.

What I would like NIS to improve upon is provide a full fledged Widget for Vista / Windows 7 users rather than the signal light widget that we have now this only lets us know how secure or vulnerable the PC is. But having an option for a full fledges widget would be a really nice add-on.

The pricing of Norton Internet Security 2010 in India is very competitive and also much below (or in-line) with other Anti-Virus vendors. The suggested retail price for Norton Internet Security 2010 is Rs 2,495 for a three PC license(great for a Home Network like mine), and Rs 1,450 for a single PC license. You can easily purchase it at the Symantec online store www.in.symantecstore.com

How to easily set the Bing Wallpaper of the Day as your Desktop Wallpaper automatically?

Bing – The latest web search engine from the Microsoft Stable is liked by some and scorned by others who would bet that Google is the best anytime. But whatever side you take – whether you like it or hate it – you will always like the daily changing background image that Bing sports.

Now if you want to automatically set the Bing Wallpaper of the day as your desktop wallpaper, you have a small utility that has been developed by MugunthKumar called as Bing Downloader. It is a small exe that is just about 10KB in size and can be easily downloaded here. All this fantastic utility (BTW, the code is open source – so you can change the C# code to ur whims and fancies) does is that it picks up the latest wallpaper from Bing and automatically sets it as your Desktop Wallpaper.

But what is missing in this light weight app is that there is no “Advanced Options” which would allow us to say download yesterday’s or any previous background wallpaper. Also, the user will need to run the Bing Downloader once a day to download that day’s Bing background image to the computer’s Desktop wallpaper.

Also, another issue is that the Bing background wallpapers are usually 958×512 pixels in size and this maynot make them very suitable for use on many Desktop Computers with large screens and having a larger display. But such users can easily center the wallpaper to make it look more pleasing. As for general NetBook or Laptop users this must be great. But my Acer D250 has a native resolution of 1024x768 so this is smaller for it too.

Below are some cool Bing Wallpapers that I have seen over the days.

Got a new NetBook – Acer Aspire D250 exclusively for Blogging

Yes, we got a new NetBook last week after quite some research. There were just so many contenders that it made the process of choosing the right NetBook that much more difficult. The NetBooks’ on offer were from HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, HCL, Sony, Acer – all the top brands have atleast 2-3 models on offer and each of them have different specs and whistles added to woo the buyer.

I visited a couple of stores in Bangalore like Croma (Koramangala), eXcite (Koramangala), Staples(Marthahalli) and eZone. Also visited numerous online websites to look for reviews and recommendations. Finally I narrowed in on the following models:

• HCL MiLeap MH214 – Priced at INR 19000 (Approx 400 USD )
• Wipro e-go Atom 26an – Priced at INR 20000 (Approx 420 USD )
• Acer Aspire One AOD250 – Priced at INR 22000 (Approx 460 USD )
• Lenovo S10 – Priced at INR 23000 (Approx 480 USD )

As you can see there was much competition in the price points too – after all we are all so very price conscious. The stores didn’t have any in-house discounts or frills thrown in for any of these models, but the company’s did have a few optional whistles on offer. Here’s my review of each of these models.

HCL MiLeap : It comes with the following features (specifications):

• A modest 7" TFT touch screen.
• Runs on the older 800 MHz Intel A110 Processor which comes with 512 KB L2 Cache and 400 MHz Front Side Bus.
• Has the Mobile Intel 945GU (ultra low voltage) Express Chipset Motherboard.
• Like the rest it comes with 1-GB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM (You can Max it upto 2 GB in 2 slots)
• A moderate 80-GB 5400 rpm SATA hard disk
• An integrated 1.3 MP Camera
• Integrated WiFi 802.11a/b/g LAN connection
• Integrated Bluetooth v2.0
• Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN connection
• 4-in-1 Media Card Reader, Multimedia Card (MMC), Memory stick (MS), Secure Digital Card, MS-PRO
• It can be converted into a Tablet with Touch Screen also has a Stylus Pen.
• Comes pre-installed with Windows XP Home
• Weighs only 960 Grams
• 2 USB v2.0 ports
• Touchpad with 2 button
• Build-in Stereo 2 stereo speaker system 1.5 Watts each
• Built-in Microphone

But what set me off was the very poor built quality. It is very plasticky and I really doubt if it will last a year or so with regular use. NetBooks are mean’t to be more rugged as they are mostly used on the move. So HCL MiLeap quicky went off my list though the price was pretty tempting – but the older ATOM processor on board, 80GB Hard Disk and the 7” screen was surely a downer. Also, I had lots of concerns with the touch screen – the demo piece at Croma was just filled with finger smudges and also the OS was already corrupted.

 

Wipro e-go Atom : This was next on my list and had pretty decent features(specifications) as follows :

• Runs on the new Intel Atom N270 processor which packs in 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB and a good 512 KB L2 cache.
• This too has the Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset.
• Has a very good 10" WSVGA high-brightness LED Backlit screen.
• Has a 1-GB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM.
• A good 160GB hard disk
• Integrated WiFi 802.11a/b/g LAN connection
• Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN connection
• Media Card Reader which natively supports Secure Digital (SD) Card, MultiMediaCard (MMC), Reduced-Size Multimedia Card (RS-MMC), Memory Stick (MS), Memory Stick PRO (MS PRO) and xD-Picture Card (xD)
• Upto 3-hour battery life with a 6-cell Lithium-ion battery pack
• Comes pre-installed with Windows XP Home
• Weighs 1.26 kgs
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• An integrated 1.3 MP Camera
• Touchpad with 2 button
• Build-in Stereo speakers
• Built-in Microphone

First things first, this is simply a wonderful NetBook – it comes packed with features. The look and build quality is very good. There are even some very crazy or eye-turner colours like a bright splash of Yellow (sure it’ll turn a few eyes). A very decent 160GB Hard Disk that must be quite sufficient for the data on the move. But, I was very skeptical that though this machine came with a 6cell li-ion battery – it is claimed to last only 3+ hours, not sure why? One downer is that there is NO integrated Bluetooth which is finding good use atleast with me – I can easily pair and transfer files from most mobiles and lappy’s.

Another good feature was that it had a LED Backlit screen which displays very crystal clear images(You must see to believe it). But the processor was N270 while there are competitors with N280 though they have an added 0.6GHz of higher speed – but it surely does matter on the move when processing power is at a premium. The price seems good too.

 

Lenovo S10 : The specs of the Lenovo S10 are pretty cool and are as follows :

• Has the new Intel Atom N270 processor which has the same 1.60 GHz, 533 MHz FSB and 512 KB L2 cache.
• This too has the Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset.
• Has a very good 10" WSVGA TFT screen.
• Has a 1 GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz.
• A good 160GB (5400 rpm) hard disk
• Integrated WiFi 802.11a/b/g LAN connection
• Integrated Bluetooth
• Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN connection
• 4-in-1 card reader slot (SD/MMC/MS/MS pro)
• Only a 3-cell Lithium-ion battery pack
• Comes pre-installed with Windows XP Home
• Weighs 1.25 kgs
• Only two USB 2.0 ports
• An integrated 1.3 MP Camera
• Touchpad with 2 button
• Build-in Stereo speakers
• Built-in Microphone
• Has a added feature of an express card slot

The Lenovo looks very sleek and has most of the features you need. Packs in also an Express Card Slot which maynot be really very useful currently. You don’t currently get that many devices that will plug into the Express Slot and moreover what else do you need coz it’s got almost all the essentials integrated. Also, it comes with the Face Recognition Software for unlocking the machine – kinda cool but do you really need it on a netBook?

The downer was as usual the N270 Atom processor so also the price, also it didn’t come with a LED display and sports the TFT screen. Also, has only the 3-cell li-ion pack.

Acer Aspire One AOD250 : The Acer Aspire One AOD250 is well built, well and are as follows :

• Runs on the most advanced and latest Intel Atom processor N280 which boasts of 1.66 GHz processing speed, 667 MHz FSB and also 512 KB L2 cache.
• This too has the Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset.
• Has a superb 10.1" SD 1024 x 600 (WSVGA) pixel resolution, high-brightness (200-nit) Acer CrystalBrite LED-backlit TFT LCD.
• Has a 1-GB DDR2 SDRAM .
• A good 160GB hard disk
• Integrated WiFi 802.11 a/b/g LAN connection
• Integrated 10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN connection
• Multi-in-1 card reader
• Upto a whooping 7-8 hours battery life with the standard 6-cell Lithium-ion battery pack
• Comes pre-installed with Windows XP Home
• Weighs 1.27 kgs
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• An integrated 0.3 MP Camera
• Has a Multi-touch(found in high-end Laptops) Touchpad with 2 button
• Two built-in stereo speakers
• Built-in Microphone
• Integrated Bluetooth 2.0+ EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
  

This is one hell of a beast I must say – has the latest N280 processor, a 160GB HDD and what makes it stand out from the crowd is the 7-8 hours of seamless battery backup that it offers via a 6-cell lithium ion Battery pack. The multi-touch keypad that supports gestures is also a very good added feature – this helps you easily scroll webpages / documents, also you can easily zoom or shrink an image with a pinch gesture.

The Back-Lit LED display serves two purposes – one, it provides very stunning image quality that is in par to high end HD televisions and secondly, having an LED display saves a whole lot of power and also the life of the screen is considerably increased.

The Final Verdict :

So, as I said before – the NetBook market is currently spoilt for choice. You have just so many options and all of them revolving around the same processor’s (N270 or N280) and the identical MotherBoard and very similar RAM , HDD features. So, in the end you need to make a choice of “Value For Money”. I found the Acer Aspire One D250 to be more of a value for money and also it fulfilled all my needs perfectly.

I got a Acer Aspire One D250 “Sunset Red”, coz as the official website says

Red is a heartbeat, the color of determination, passion and of a fiery soul.

So, it very much speaks for itself and my passion for blogging. As you might have already observed – the number of blog posts and the frequency has already begun to increase. Will keep you folks posted on updates as I use more of the NetBook on the move than my Monster Desktop.

Technorati Tags: NetBooks,Acer,Lenova,Wipro,Aspire One,Review,Gadgets

Things to look out before purchasing a NetBook / Netop

The current wave of mobile computing has turned towards NetBooks or Netops for sure. The NetBooks’ on offer are from almost all the major brands like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, HCL, Sony, Acer, WIPRO and MSI. Almost all these brands have atleast 2-3 models on offer with varying configurations and setups.

Well – what is a NetBook or Netop?
NetBook’s are basically mini laptops that usually run on the Intel Atom Processors and have features that are most needed for people on the go and need a computer to do some basic operations. They come in a variety of Intel Atom Processors ranging from the 1GHz to the latest 1.66GHz (N280) one. NetBooks also come with a choice of hard disks from SATA drives to SSD (Solid State Drives). They have 1-2GB of RAM and usually with no CD / DVD ROM Drives. But what actually sets them apart is the shear size of these beauties – they have screens varying from 7 inches right upto 11-12 inches.

Hope that was quite an explanation – Now getting back to what was on offer and how I zeroed in on one… Here it goes.

Processor :
There isn’t much options on this front – the only contenders are from the Intel family currently. We have the Intel Atom architecture that was conceptualized / designed specifically for the NetBook market. The Atom range of processors are pretty small in footprint and also consume way too less power than conventional processors. The latest Intel Atom Processor on offer is the N280 which runs at 1.66GHz

RAM :
We have a choice of the older SDRAM as well as the DDR RAM’s. But there is a cap of a max of 2GB RAM. All the NetBooks I researched came with 1GB of RAM.

Hard Disk :
The minimum that was on offer was at 80GB and the max was at 320GB. But do you really need that much of memory on the go? Well, that depends on an individual’s needs – as for me, I had a requirement of a minimum of 100GB. So the higher capacity I get – the better bang I get for my buck :)

Display :
Now this is an area where you least expect to have choices – but you really have a competition here too. There are the touch screens that have become the latest fad and then you have the BackLit LED displays and the regular LCD displays. Though touch screens have a lot of takers but do you really need it? We all know that hand-writing recognition has always been unpredictable at the most needed hour. Also, all the extra care that you need to take care from fingerprints and the gloss.

Battery BackUp :
Most NetBooks come with a 3 or 4 cell Battery that lasts for 3+ hrs. Again the hours that are claimed by different companies vary for the same specs. Also, on the higher end you have 6 cell ones that have 7-8 hrs of battery life. This is very important when you are shopping for a NetBook since the longer juice it has the better. The cost of the NetBook varies based on the cell that it has.

Wi-Fi :
Almost all of them have a Wifi receiver that have 801.1 g/n. This is very important when you are on the go, since you can easily access the internet from the free access points. Wifi does drain a bit of the battery.

USB Ports :
The number of USB Ports greatly varies from different models. 2-3 ports are usually present in the NetBook. A thing to watch out is that a few models have 1 USB port which has power and the rest don’t have power, which basically means that you can use only 1 USB port for charging an iPod or Phone – while the other ports can be used for connecting accessories that don’t need power for operation.

Hope these tips are useful in you making a more calculative decision. As always, feel free to contact me if you need any suggestions.