Ninite

A friend of mine pointed this out to me a little while ago, and I'd like to make a short post to just raise awareness of it.

Ninite is a website that provides a kind of batch-installer for downloading and installing all of your favourite programs. Users simply select from a list all the software that they want, such as Open Office, Windows Live Messenger, Firefox, etc., then hit the download button, and you'll download a small program that will automatically download and then install all of the programs that you previously asked for.

It will install programs as they are downloaded, so won't wait for everything to download first before beginning the automated installation process. On install, it automatically says no to free toolbars and other unwanted extras, and it doesn't keep the install files that it uses, so it has good house-keeping too.

This tool is extremely useful for when you get a new computer (or hard drive), or reinstall your operating system. It's also useful when you want to replace all the bloatware on someone else's computer for them; ditching Norton and Adobe PDF reader are things I've done for others many times - getting it all from one place without having to maintain a USB stick with all the latest versions of the installers on it is a real pleasure.