Best Software for Netbooks

Business and Productivity

Foxit PDF Reader, Free

Foxit’s ultra-lean PDF reader runs and opens documents so much faster than Adobe’s own bloated reader that it’s almost embarrassing. Forget netbooks, you’ll want to install this one on every system you own.

OpenOffice, Free

Many netbooks come preinstalled with this office suite for a reason. OK, that’s because it’s free. But it’s also lighter than the Microsoft equivalent, which makes it a winner from a performance perspective, too.

AVG Free Anti-Virus, Free

Yes, sadly you need to protect your netbook just as much as you need to protect your desktop. Even if you don’t have anything important stored on board, you probably have a ton of stored Internet passwords from surfing that you really wouldn’t want to fall into the hands of hackers. AVG may not have the prettiest user interface, but it will do the job without clogging up your machine, which is more than many commercial (*cough*Norton) AV products can claim.

Mozilla ThunderBird, Free

Let’s be honest: You’re far better off with Web-based e-mail like Gmail if you’re really trying to keep the system load on your netbook low, but if you need a client for POP or IMAP e-mail, Thunderbird makes far more sense than Microsoft Outlook. When we compared memory footprint with the same inbox, Thunderbird consumed 33MB, while Outlook guzzled 111MB, which makes an enormous difference in app you’re going to have open all the time.