This guide does not include good freeware programs that everyone should have installed, like Open Office for instance, it only contains software that is of special use for notebook owners.

If you know other freeware products that are of interest let me know.

Net Profiles: Net Profiles allows you to create profiles of your network settings, including mapped network drives and default printers, and lets you easily apply those settings. It eliminates the need to manually reconfigure your network settings when you move your desktop/laptop computer to another location and want to connect to another network. This is a handy software for all users who often change location and take their laptop with them.

Notebook Hardware Control: Prolong battery life, cool down, reduce noise level, monitor temperature, battery charge level and much more. This one is extremely helpful, it can increase the battery life of the notebook, manage system power management settings automatically or make sure your notebook stays quiet when it needs to.

SpeedswitchXP: CPU
frequency control for notebooks running Windows XP, prolong battery life. Another program designed to increase the battery life of the notebook. Please note that this one has been specifically designed for the XP operating system, and that it has not been updated since 2006.

TFT-Test: A tool that checks a tft display for errors. It simply fills the whole screen with one color (white, red, green, blue or black). Its easy to spot display-errors this way. This is a great software if you can run it before buying the notebook, or to check whether you can return the notebook because of this.