Once and Still a Techie Weblog

Choice Tech Tools Part I

Today my geeky self enjoyed configuring two brand new laptops. They came without an operating system preinstalled so I had to install the OS, install an antivirus, run updates, and install applications on both. I came across two very helpful tools in the process. One of them simplifies and automates application installation and the other ensures that all the installed apps are updated and patched from security holes that may compromise your system. I take pride in knowing that computers I configure are fully updated and secure from potential malware/hack attacks.

Those of you who have tried setting up a new computer, maybe one that you’ve built yourself, have had to go through the painstaking process of finding applications, heading to the app’s website, downloading the installer, and installing the application. This is a process you have to repeat until you’ve installed everything you need. If this is something you do often, you would probably have your own app installer repository on some USB flash drive somewhere. But how certain are you that it contains the most updated version of each application?

The first tool which I’ve found very useful automates the downloading and installing of applications. It can be better described as an online service that allows you to do something more interesting than sit in front of a PC mindlessly clicking through dialog box after dialog box. You simply head over to the website ninite.com, select the applications you’re interested in and click a button that creates a custom installer that when launched, automatically downloads and installs each app you’ve selected.

So that you can visualize the process, I’ve taken some screenshots:

Here are some of the apps you can select all nicely arranged in categories:

Once you’re done selecting your apps, click Get installer:

The next message greets you:

And you see a message box prompting you to either save the customized installer or cancel the download:

Clicking “Save File” downloads the installer to your computer:

Run this file and a new window opens listing all the apps you’ve selected (you have to click on “Show details” to see the list, by the way) and their current status , which may either be a) Downloading, b) Installing, c) Waiting to download or d) OK (meaning installation was successful):

Once all the apps have been installed, here’s what you should be seeing:

This service is a time saver. As a matter of fact, I had the Ninite custom installer simultaneously  running on both laptops while I was typing up this post on my main PC.

Stay tuned for my second choice tool which ensures you’re running the most updated and secure versions of your favorite applications.