Before Upgrading to Windows 7, Grab This!

Save time. Grab the must have Ninite!

I've been using Windows 7 on my home PC for several weeks now, and recently installed the 64-bit release version. I must say that Microsoft has done a very good job with Windows 7. From major changes to minor changes, I can confidently say that installing Windows 7 on your XP or Vista computer will give you a strong feeling of rejuvenation. Booting is fast, apps are managed better, and the overall OS is very slick.

But before you upgrade to Windows 7, take a look into a utility called Ninite. The little tool lets you customize all your favorite apps into one monolithic installer. You then download the package, and run the install. Ninite will install all the apps you picked without fuss. Walk away. Enjoy some coffee, and when you come back, all your apps are ready to go. There's no need to manually hunt for them again.

Ninite currently supports all the popular browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc., and includes utility apps such as VLC, Skype, Thunderbird, Adobe PDF Reader, Flash, bit-torrent tools, RealVNC, WinRAR, PuTTY, and other common apps. You can suggest your own.

Hit up the Ninite website. Pick your apps, download the installer, copy to a USB-stick so that you'll have it ready to go before moving to a fresh Windows 7 install. Best of all, it's free and grabs you the latest version of the apps!

You're free to suggest apps that should be included too. One utility that I did find missing is Daemon Tools.

Check it out here.

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Top Comments

12 Ð

cookies , October 25, 2009 5:29 AM

I have to say, this is cool. Though I don't know if I'd trust it to go through the installs correctly. I often do quirky little things during install. Now, if I could set up a batch of program configurations with it I'd be really excited.

Other Comments

12 Ð

cookies , October 25, 2009 5:29 AM

I have to say, this is cool. Though I don't know if I'd trust it to go through the installs correctly. I often do quirky little things during install. Now, if I could set up a batch of program configurations with it I'd be really excited.
1 Ð

Shadow703793 , October 25, 2009 5:34 AM

That's nice. Now all you have to do is just use nLite/vLite or smiler program and slipstream it to the OS.
1 Ð

Shadow703793 , October 25, 2009 5:46 AM

On a side note: How does the installer figure out what to install first? For example JDK needs to be installed before an IDE (Eclipse,NetBeans,etc)

PS: Wish they had NetBeans also.
4 Ð

anonymous@guest , October 25, 2009 5:47 AM

The programs are downloaded from their respective websites; and the installations happen without problems.
Sponsored links like yahoo toolbar or equals are ignored!
-20 Ð

VGM10000 , October 25, 2009 5:49 AM

You know, that REALLY looks like a screenshot of the software in OS X. Sort of like when Ballmer was on Today displaying all sorts of Win 7 computers and the image behind him was of a MacBook Pro.
4 Ð

kageryu , October 25, 2009 6:29 AM

I'm surprised they don't have an option for Winamp.
1 Ð

JonathanDeane , October 25, 2009 6:32 AM

I sort of do this already. I have a folder with the installers for all my favorite aps. What happens is when I need to reinstall or upgrade the OS or just fix up some ones PC, I update all the files in that folder (sometimes they do not need to be...) But this ap looks like it could speed that up for me, so I am going to try it out.
0 Ð

Codesmith , October 25, 2009 6:59 AM

Yes you can do all that yourself. 66% of the programs out there have installers that accept command line switches. The ones that don't you can write an AutoIt Script to recognize the install screens and click the right buttons .. and there are programs that will let you bundle it all up in a single installer ....

I used one disc to automatically install Windows, one to apply all the patches and a 3rd to install software.

But the time it saved wasn't justified by the number of installs I'd perform before having to update it.

This site does all that work for you ... for a limited selection or programs.
0 Ð

Drag0nR1der , October 25, 2009 7:13 AM

VGM10000You know, that REALLY looks like a screenshot of the software in OS X. Sort of like when Ballmer was on Today displaying all sorts of Win 7 computers and the image behind him was of a MacBook Pro.

Could be either tbh, although the one below is def. windows. Don't see how it matters much, as its the program itself being discussed.

I currently install all my programs to a seperate drive (just partition really), which allows me to minimise the amount of space I need to back up my system files for quick recovery (not that I've ever needed to yet), will this let you choose a different drive to the default C drive to install to?
1 Ð

ano , October 25, 2009 7:25 AM

VGM10000You know, that REALLY looks like a screenshot of the software in OS X. Sort of like when Ballmer was on Today displaying all sorts of Win 7 computers and the image behind him was of a MacBook Pro.

yeah yeah yeah....

a typical Apple fanboy's day dreaming...!!
0 Ð

lemonade4 , October 25, 2009 7:59 AM

I'm still waiting for my copy of Windows 7 Ultimate to ship to me
0 Ð

rpmrush , October 25, 2009 8:04 AM

I'm fixing to deploy Win 7. I'll try this.
0 Ð

Drag0nR1der , October 25, 2009 8:09 AM

Hehe, just seen the Bullmer demo on Today, yep, def a MacBook pro, love it when people with no clue get it amusingly wrong. Worked out ok though, did a good job of being nondescript enough to not upstage the products being displayed... which all generally had a fair amount of aesthetic appeal, all except that ghastly gaming rig, though, what were they thinking, they could have had something really nice there instead. Oh well.
-5 Ð

Drag0nR1der , October 25, 2009 8:09 AM

Hehe, just seen the Bullmer demo on Today, yep, def a MacBook pro, love it when people with no clue get it amusingly wrong. Worked out ok though, did a good job of being nondescript enough to not upstage the products being displayed... which all generally had a fair amount of aesthetic appeal, all except that ghastly gaming rig, though, what were they thinking, they could have had something really nice there instead. Oh well.
7 Ð

dragoon190 , October 25, 2009 9:45 AM

This looks surprising like a linux software manager... with the correct repo setup, of course...
3 Ð

MageVortex , October 25, 2009 9:54 AM

so we need this BEFORE we isntall win 7...? Why not just get it afterwards..?
0 Ð

sonnywoj , October 25, 2009 10:06 AM

im still on the search to get all my apps back. its tough
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sailfish , October 25, 2009 11:11 AM

If I'm doing an upgrade rather than a full install, why is this necessary? Doesn't an upgrade leave my existing Vista apps still there?
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Drag0nR1der , October 25, 2009 11:19 AM

ewww, upgrade. Fresh install is usually better, I had heard they were improving the w7 upgrade method a lot, but then heard nothing about it near launch so maybe they never got round to it. Luckily for me having everything on seperate drives meant all i had to do was install a few prog's and remap my document folders to the right place.
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Darkness Flame , October 25, 2009 12:13 PM

This is definitely a very nifty little tool. I'm quite glad it has The KMPlayer; my personal media player of choice.

Had to ask for Daemon Tools though. Asked for Steam too, just because I could. Ohh, and Katawa Shoujo, because more people need to read that.

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