Digital Home Thoughts: Create your own App Pack with Ninite

"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."

I have heard people complain how long it use to take installing the OS on a computer. While that has largely improved from taking several hours to less than an hour in most cases, I find the lengthiest part of setting up a new computer is the never ending array of programs that need to be installed and tweaking them to my preferences. I am certain many of us have a USB drive or shared folder that has copies of all of their favorite programs, but Ninite may make that unnecessary. At the Ninite website, you just pick all the programs you want to install, all of which are free and up to date, and it will give you a custom installer that will install all the programs at once! It will not help you if you are installing Adobe Photoshop or Microsoft Office, but Ninite offers alternatives (actually, there's an Office 2007 trial available) and should at least cut down your initial setup time considerably. I tried it as part of my Windows 7 setup, and it worked great for me, installing about ten programs in one fell swoop!