BATCH MANAGEMENT
Sometimes you’re starting entirely from scratch with a clean Windows installation that you need to get up to speed in a hurry. Problem is, deploying a new machine can be a massive slog of a job. Collecting together the items you need is one thing, but running through the individual installation processes of all that software is time-consuming and laborintensive, particularly if you’re dealing with programs that include sneaky shovelware in their installers. One wrong click and you’re infested, meaning it’s not even a job you can do on autopilot. But there’s a tried and tested solution that has been dealing with all that nastiness for a number of years, and it’s even applicable if you’re not installing a machine from scratch.
Ninite ( www.ninite.com) compresses all that work into a single job, then deals with all the effort for you. It installs everything you need, preselected to your specifications, as long as it’s in the extensive list of supported software, without any hassle. Head over to the site, check a few boxes for your desired apps, and click the big button to download the installer. Run it, and Ninite automatically gets hold of the latest versions of your chosen free programs—which range from security and development tools to messaging and creative apps—and installs them in the background. They all end up
in their default locations, and Ninite also ensures that those clandestine crapware boxes are never clicked. While you can’t use it for automatic uninstallation unless you opt for the pro version ($20 a month, which also gets you the ability to perform network installs), it does support upgrading; an occasional run is all it takes to keep all of the applications on your system up to date.