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How to easily install essential applications on a new Windows 7 computer

It does­n’t mat­ter if you’ve upgraded from Vista or XP, or if you’ve bought a new Win­dows 7 based com­puter, you’re going to need to install some basic and essen­tial applic­a­tions on your new baby. And this awe­some web­site makes it so, SO easy. 4 easy steps: Vis­it the site Select which applic­a­tions you want Press the but­ton to…

It does­n’t mat­ter if you’ve upgraded from Vista or XP, or if you’ve bought a new Win­dows 7 based com­puter, you’re going to need to install some basic and essen­tial applic­a­tions on your new baby.

And this awe­some web­site makes it so, SO easy. 4 easy steps:

  • Vis­it the site
  • Select which applic­a­tions you want
  • Press the but­ton to start a download
  • Run the down­loaded application

Vis­it the site
Ninite.com is a very cool web app with a single func­tion: to make a cus­tom down­load­er and installer that will save you time and mouse­clicks to install com­monly used open-source and free applications.

The page looks like this, a long list of applic­a­tions and util­it­ies, divided into sec­tions by applic­a­tion type.

Nin­ite includes everything from office suite applic­a­tions (Open Office, MS Office tri­al), image and  audio edit­ors, to sys­tem main­ten­ance util­it­ies, vir­us scan­ners, and media burn­ing tools.

Get your applications
This could­n’t be sim­pler. Click on the apps or util­it­ies you want. Unfor­tu­nately there’s no link to a product over­view so if you’re not famil­i­ar with the applic­a­tion you will need to Google it.

Press the button
This ini­ti­ates a bit of back-end magic at the site. A cus­tom download/installer applic­a­tion is built and sent to your com­puter. It con­tains all the inform­a­tion neces­sary to, when run, down­load and install (in back­ground) the applic­a­tions you selec­ted in the pre­vi­ous step.

Make it so
When  you run the installer, a win­dow opens show­ing you the pro­gress of the pro­cess. If you’re curi­ous, you can ‘show the details’ and each phase of the install can be viewed.

Why?
The big bene­fit for me is the time sav­ing and the click sav­ing. What would nor­mally take over an hour for a new install, basic­ally takes 2–5 minutes of my time, the rest hap­pens in back­ground while I do some­thing else. To quote from the developers:

Nin­ite runs on Win­dows XP/Vista/7 and works
in the back­ground 100% hands-free. 

We install apps with default set­tings and
say “no” to browser tool­bars and oth­er junk. 

All we do is install the latest ver­sions of the apps
you choose. Not even Nin­ite is installed. 

How can that not be cool?

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Comments

2 responses to “How to easily install essential applications on a new Windows 7 computer”

  1. steve Avatar
    steve

    I want to but a new dell w/windows 7 but I dont want to have to pur­chase Illus­trat­or and Pho­toshop and office and all the assort­ive applic­a­tions I have again. I am not a good saver and lost most of the install CD’s. How to I trans­fer these to my new sys­tem and will they run. Cur­rently run­ning XP.

    Can I save any of this to memory stick or run a usb cable?

    Thanks

    Reply
  2. Brad Grier Avatar
    Brad Grier

    Hi Steve, thanks for stop­ping by.

    Short answer, not likely, you’ll need your install discs.

    The prob­lem is that when you install soft­ware, small files that help the oper­at­ing sys­tem and applic­a­tion run prop­erly are stored every­where, not all in the same place. 

    Also, set­tings are made in Win­dows Registry that could be spe­cif­ic to your com­puter hard­ware and oper­at­ing sys­tem. Dif­fer­ent set­tings would be needed on the new system.

    There are ‘data/application trans­fer’ applic­a­tions out there, but I’ve not used them and have heard that they don’t always work as expec­ted. Your best bet is to dig out the install­a­tion CDs, or bet­ter yet, upgrade to the new­er ver­sion of soft­ware that’s designed for Win­dows 7 — after all, XP is 2 gen­er­a­tions old.

    Good luck!

    Reply

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