If you regularly connect your laptop to different networks then you'll know it can sometimes take a little time. You may not even be able to get online until you've changed your network settings, for instance (IP address, DNS, the gateway), and set up a browser proxy. And that may be just the start of your problems.

Net Profile Switch 6.1 can help, though, by letting you build up a profile of settings for any given location. And so you can define variables like your IP address and browser proxy, then switch between them at a click - much easier.

But there's more. Authors Jitbit Software realised that you may also use your notebook very differently, depending on your location, and so built in a host of settings to make your life easier.

If you're at work, for instance, you may use a different browser home page, network drive mappings, and printer to those that you have set up at home. And so you can include each of these in the profile. It's also possible to change the outgoing SMTP server, perhaps to use your ISP's account at home, the company server at work.

Other options let you define a workgroup to join or VPN connection to activate after launching a particular profile. And if you need more, then there's the option to launch a program, batch file or script, that could configure any remaining settings you might require.

And when you're finished, there's no further need to change your setup manually. When you return to a network, just right-click its profile, select the Activate option, and in a few seconds your computer will be correctly configured for its current location.