I had to re-install the operating system on my laptop recently. Leading to me wanting my entire list of frequently used programs reinstalled. This was going to be a pain. Amongst other things, I knew I needed the following programs.
Firefox
Thunderbird (Mozilla email client)
Keepass
Pidgin (Multi-protocol IM client)
Notepad++
WinSCP
PuTTy
Paint.Net
Inkscape
VLC
TrueCrypt
CutePDF (Standalone PDF printer)
Foxit PDF Reader
and more...
Installing each separately is a pain. (I've done it in the past) I remembered this post [1] on Lifehacker. Hence, I decided to give Ninite a chance.
Ninite is a bulk-installer. It automates the chore of downloading programs from their websites and then installing them. So, I went to their website and downloaded a custom installer for me. (The site gives you a list of programs available, you choose the programs you want, then the site gives you a smaller installer utility that downloads and installs the programs for you.)
Here's what I saw as it was installing:
Security paranoid folks might wonder what the implications are. There are risks - since you don't know what else this tool is installing for you. I had my anti-virus and firewall watch the application carefully and I didn't see it complain, so I guess I am good.
I will be suggesting this to people who want to make the re-install of applications painless on Windows machines. Ubuntu and other Linux distributions already do this with their package mangers and "software centers". Until this tool came along, either rolling your own OS installation disc with the other software slipstreamed into the disc or having a cloned image of a drive was the only way to have this sort of automated installation on a home machine. (Windows machines on a domain with a domain controller can have all sort of fancy features including a start up script that installs stuff from the server.)
[1] http://lifehacker.com/5388408/ninite-bulk+installs-great-free-windows-apps
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