Installing Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta

Since I've a lot of free disk space on Lenovo IdeaPad S10, I installed this beta and it took 1 hour 40 minutes to complete.

It will show Service Pack 2, v.113 as shown and Windows Vista Evaluation copy Build 6002 on the desktop.

Personal Computer World February 2009

Features

1. 101 Free Windows Programs
2. Mobile Broadband Supertest

Cover CD (Free Paid Full Version)

1. Panda Internet Security 2009 (90-day licence)
   

Running Vista on Lenovo IdeaPad S10

Similarly to Acer Aspire One, you need to download the latest driver to run Aero. The score for graphics and gaming graphics are lower than AOA110 even though they're using the same driver and have the same amount of video memory allocated. But, the score for disk is higher than AOA110.

Comparing Lenovo IdeaPad S10 with Acer Aspire One AOA110

S10

1. 10.2" 1024 x 600 LED backlit non-glossy screen
   
2. 160GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD (Ultra DMA Mode 5) - easy to upgrade without warranty void
   
3. 1GB DDR2 667MHz PC 5300 RAM - easy to upgrade without warranty void
   
4. Video memory 64MB in XP/Vista
   
5. 6-cell Li-ion battery
6. Windows XP Home Edition SP3
   

AOA110

1. 8.9" 1024 x 600 LED backlit glossy screen
2. 8GB MLC SSD (Ultra DMA Mode 4) - hard to upgrade with warranty void
   
3. 1GB DDR2 667MHz PC 5300 RAM - hard to upgrade with warranty void
   
4. Video memory 224MB in XP, 64MB in Vista
   
5. 3-cell Li-ion battery
6. Linpus Linux Lite
   

Lenovo IdeaPad S10

I upgraded my Acer Aspire One AOA110 to Lenovo S10. It comes with Windows XP SP3. Removed Norton Internet Security & Adobe Acrobat Reader, configured settings and did a image backup using CyberLink OneKey Recovery. Created a recovery DVD from the backup image and tested the recovery. It takes less than 30 minutes to restore Windows XP. This Intel netbook comes with a bigger 10.2" screen at 1024 x 600 and bigger 160GB HDD.

The Lenovo supplied 6-cell 52Wh Li-Ion battery takes 2 hours 45 mins to fully charge while not in use and 3 hours 30 mins to fully charge while in use. It lasted almost 4 hours with the brightness set to the lowest, performance mode, wireless disabled and surfing with 3G modem.

Australian APC Magazine January 2009

Features

1. GPS: Road Tested
2. Build the Ultimate Connected Home
   

Computer Shopper February 2009

Features

1. Recovery Channels
2. Protect Your Old Photos
3. Computers: The Next Generation

Cover DVD (Free Paid Full Version)

1. Paragon Hard Disk Manager 8.5
2. Eset Smart Security (101-day license)
   

Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5

The latest release fixed several security issues:

MFSA 2008-60 Crashes with evidence of memory corruption (rv:1.9.0.5/1.8.1.19)

MFSA 2008-63 User tracking via XUL persist attribute

MFSA 2008-64 XMLHttpRequest 302 response disclosure

MFSA 2008-65 Cross-domain data theft via script redirect error message

MFSA 2008-66 Errors parsing URLs with leading whitespace and control characters

MFSA 2008-67 Escaped null characters ignored by CSS parser

MFSA 2008-68 XSS and JavaScript privilege escalation

MFSA 2008-69 XSS vulnerabilities in SessionStore

Lenovo IdeaPad S9/S10 Netbook

Specifications

Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
Windows XP Home (Utility provided to create recovery discs)
1 GB DDR2 SDRAM
160GB SATA HDD
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
8.9" (S9) or 10.2" (S10) WSVGA
3-cell (S9) or 6-cell (S10) Li-ion Battery
1-year Regional Carry-in Warranty (Malaysia, Singapore etc)
Free Sleeve Case
Free additional 1-year Carry-in Warranty
RM1,499 (S9) or RM1,699 (S10)

Drivers

S9 Windows XP
S10 Windows XP

PC Pro February 2009

Features

1. Take your TV everywhere
2. The best 30 features of Windows 7

Cover DVD (Free Paid Full Version)

1. Macrium Reflect
2. Serif PagePlus 9

Turning Off Disk Defragmentation On SSD

By default in Windows Vista, Disk Defragmenter is set to run on a schedule.

It's advisable to turn off this feature to prolong the life of the SSD. You can click on Start -> Type disk on Search and select Disk Defragmenter.

Paragon Software Drive Backup 9.0 Express

This software can be downloaded free for personal and non-commercial use.

You can create and restore image for recovery. A bootable flash memory drive can also be created. But you can't add some files or folders to the flash memory drive using Advanced option unlike CD/DVD.

Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Beta

The download is 388.3MB and you'll need at least 3GB of free disk space to install. You can't install this update on a 4GB SSD.

Australian PC User January 2009

Features

1. Rescue Guide
2. New Gear and Games

PC Advisor February 2009

Features

1. The 50 Best Windows Programs
2. Is the Internet in Meltdown?

Cover DVD (Free Paid Full Version)

1. Ashampoo Photo Optimizer 2
   

Australian PC Authority January 2009

Features

1. The Best & Worst Tech
2. Windows 7 Preview

Cover DVD (Free Paid Full Version)

1. Paragon Partition Manager 9 SE

Personal Computer World January 2009

Features

1. Get started on home networking
2. Security suites

Cover CD (Free Paid Full Version)

1. PC Tools File Recover 7
2. Ashampoo Photo Commander 6

Running Windows 7 on Netbooks

Minimum System Requirements

1. Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz
2. 1GB RAM
   
3. 16GB SSD or HDD
   

Systems Tested (Windows Experience Index)

1. Lenovo S10
2. MSI Wind U100
3. Dell Mini 9

Huawei E169 3G USB Modem

Got this modem when I sign up for mobile broadband. It's slow to install on Acer Aspire One with MLC SSD but in the end it works.

You just have to make sure all the drivers are installed first. If there is any prompts about New Hardware Found messages, just ignore them until all the drivers are installed. After installation, check Device Manager as shown to ensure you can see Huawei modem.

Is Mozilla Firefox Spying On You?

Every time I open Mozilla Firefox or Mozilla Firefox Portable Edition on my computers, I notice that Firefox is trying to connect to avgff.applicationstat.com instead of my home page. If you check that website, it shows a statistics reports website.