Now that Windows 7 is being met with mostly positive reviews and green-lighting by software professionals, no doubt many will be making the switch to Microsoft’s new operating system in the next couple of weeks. Which is a bit of a pain if you stuck with Windows XP and skipped Vista altogether, because then the best thing for you to do is perform a complete clean install after backing up your data and programs.
Wiping out your data is one thing, but you’ll also need to install all your applications from scratch again once you get Windows 7 up and running on your computer. The same goes, of course, for people who buy a new PC and start with only a few pre-installed programs – or none at all.
Installing multiple software applications can be quite a painstaking, time-consuming chore, but a Y Combinator-funded startup has just pushed a tool that aims to make the process very, very easy. And free of charge on top of that.
Meet Ninite, a multi-app installer tool that’s as useful as it is simple.
Ninite has aggregated a bunch of popular PC applications in a range of categories on its website, and allows you to check multiple software programs and run the setup process for each of them in one go. No installation of additional software required, and Ninite will even automatically refrain from including toolbars and whatnot with the software you’ve opted to install. The only disadvantage I can see is actually a feature: default settings for software programs you’ve chosen to install will automatically be selected, so there’s little customization you can perform during the set-up process.
Once you’ve selected all the apps you want, you’ll get a single executable file which will run all installations in one go while you go have an espresso.
Ninite, which was called Volery while in private beta, is a product from Secure by Design, a YC-funded startup which discovered people were yearning for this type of tool when marketing the BaseShield App Store, essentially an app store for Windows apps.
The company aims to make money off Ninite by offering premium features like local download caching, network share download caching and a silent mode to paying users.
(Via Hacker News)
Still feels relatively complicated compared to the linux alternative of repositories, but I guess its the right way to go for windows (although its pity that’s third party and not centralized, but oh well).
already using windows 7 for a few months now and it’s so much better then vista, vista was a big mistake. people should make the move, it’s so much stable and faster then vista…
I do agree with you .. its far better then Vista .. the features are col and graphics are amazing ..Everything is so amazing .. we can call it improved Vista .. I hope it works well for microsoft .. as Windows Vista was a disaster …
Best,
Daina
“better then vista”
Then vista what? What happened?
I don’t Agree Since I bought 3 original with in three years, it’s a pain for people how don’t update there OS ..
Any Way I’m Up Grading From Scratch ..
Cool. Only works for free software, but I will definitely use this.
Does anyone do something similar for URLs? One place where I can go and get 100 good bookmarks, relevant to my interests, with minimal effort?
Del.icio.us?
StumbleUpon? http://www.stumbleupon.com/
Great find I was installing Win 7 on one PC and read this on another…
No Winamp? Digsby? =[
Wow, this software is great. Amazing find.
Maybe im missing something, but it looks like the list of apps you can install are all free apps. What about MS Office, Photoshop, Visual Studio, etc?
Exactly, getting the free apps into an auto-installer is all well and good, but if I can’t add all the non-freeware stuff that I have to reinstall, then there’s not much point in using this, from a business perspective.
I re-built computers almost daily and have to repeatedly re-install Adobe Standard, Microsoft Office, and a whole host of other proprietary software packages after wiping a PC and re-installing Windows. I already use a program called AutoPatcher to bring my Windows XP and Office builds up-to-date with all of the necessary patched and service packs, plus it can install many of the apps that Ninite can install. All automatically, plus including commong registry hacks and customizations like turning off the stupid Desktop Cleanup thing and reducing the menu delay on the Start menu. It also automatically recognized which versions of Windows (XP or Vista) and Office (XP, 2003, or 2007), downloads all necessary patches, hacks, and optional installs, and gives you a full list of options for what to install.
Considering the above paragraph, Ninite or any similar app will have to be able to add the installs for any proprietary software as well as freeware and patches for me to try it out.
MS Office is indeed one of the options… but it looks like Ninite doesn’t look for 64 bit versions of the apps… uninstalling most of them now.
Yes, but the only option for MS Office is Office 2007, which installs the free trial version that you then have to register. I can’t see of any other way to do it when they focus solely on freeware, but it would be more versatile and useful to be able to select Office 2003 or even Office XP as well, though I don’t know if MS ever made a trial version of Office XP.
Google pack is another similar app
This is a relief for many naive users. Personally using 7 for last 7 months and is a big refreshing change in Windows sphere. This is one OS developed with end users in mind.
or you could just as well use the growing collection of apps from http://www.portableapps.com. all free and no installation necessary. just backup and restore (or always run them from an external harddrive on any pc).
Those interested in ninite will definitely like http://allmyapps.com !
Meh,
You can also install Microsoft Office, Photoshop, and Visual Studio on Windows 7. Most applications that were compatible with Windows Vista should also be compatible with Windows 7.
If for some reason you encounter compatibility issues with select applications it would be good to go to the following link to get your questions answered on the most common challenges around application compatibility when coming from a legacy operating system, understand why changes were made along the way, compatibility technologies inside the OS and methods for getting incompatible applications to run on Windows 7: http://tinyurl.com/yfa2yyz
Jessica
Microsoft Windows Client Team
InstallPad – same thing, lets you add your own apps. ‘Nuff said.
http://installpad.com/applists