SplashTop OS is a free operating system that comes with instant on feature, and lets you quickly browse internet. It comes with Chromium browser (the same browser from which Google Chrome is derived). You can install lot of web apps on it, and surf internet. In fact, it is designed to work with Google Chrome web apps. You can use all cloud based applications with this. If you want to download any file, then you can download that to a USB drive (not to hard drive).
Splashtop OS is Linux based. This free operating system can be installed only with Windows, and cannot be installed stand-alone on a computer. That is quite an irony, as this itself is Linux based, and it somehow needs Windows to be pre-installed on that computer. I have no idea why is that necessary :)
SplashTop is meant for simply one purpose: Internet Browsing. You cannot install programs like Office on it. But you can use web apps to accomplish your tasks.
How to Install SplashTop:
It is very simple to install SplashTop. Just go to Splashtop website, and download this free operating system. The download size is around 300 MB, so it will take quite some time to download it, based on your internet speed. Once downloaded, just follow the installation steps like any other Windows program. During installation, it will import your browser settings, as well as wifi settings. Once it is installed, it will restart your computer. Then you will start seeing two boot options: Windows, and SplashTop. Select SplashTop to boot into it, and enjoy web surfing.
To uninstall SplashTop, use the uninstall option available within Windows. That will completely wipe out SplashTop
Also check out USB based operating systems, and online virtual workspace.
Here are three reasons to use SplashTop:
- It is marketed as “Instant On”, which basically means it turns on quickly, and within a few seconds you can start browsing the internet. You do not need to load complete Windows and all the background apps just to browse internet. Instead, boot into SplashTop, and start browsing internet quickly.
- My personal reason for using SplashTop would be privacy and security. SplashTop is kept separate from other areas of hard drive. So, I can surf web safely on it, knowing that any virus or malware cannot corrupt my data. SplashTop itself comes with a quick reset feature, which can reset everything withing SplashTop back to original install settings.
- Get a feel of Cr-48 :) If you are one of those who wanted to lay hands on Google’s Cr-48 laptop, then SplashTop is a good way to get a pretty good feel of that. You will get a good idea about how using only web based apps feels like.
SplashTop has many advantages, but I am still surprised that SplashTop is not available as a stand-alone operating system. That would have made it a great choice for netbooks; even better than Meego. Nevertheless, SplashTop is still worth trying, just for the heck of it. Let us know what you think.
