TechTips - Get Popular Free Apps Reinstalled Quick and Easy with Ninite

We all have gone through having our computer crash and having to restore or reinstall to our factory state and then go through the tedious process of reinstalling all of our applications. Well now there is a free tool called Ninite that will assist you in installing some of the most commonly used web based applications in a quick and easy manner. I will show you where to go and how to use the simple to use program to get back you applications.

So first thing is to explain what Ninite is and how it works. Ninite is a website that allows you to choose many of the free web based applications that are commonly used, then Ninite.com creates an installer for you which you run and it will install all of the programs you choose with the default settings. This saves you from having to go out to all the sites and download each program, run the installers, click through each option and uncheck all the annoying add-ons. This saves you time and energy.

So Ninite sounds amazing right, well there is only one catch and that is the website only offers a set number of programs (they seem to me to be the most widely used free programs on the web) to choose from. So you might not be able to find ALL of your programs and have them all installed for you. Ninite.com does have a way to submit programs that you would like to see on the website, this is a nice feature so I would assume that more will be added in the future.

The site does have the following programs to choose from.

Web Browsers - Google Chrome, Safari, Opera, and Firefox

Messaging - Skype, MSN Messenger, Pidgin, Digsby, Google Talk, and Thunderbird

Media players - iTunes, Songbird, Hulu, VLC, KMPlayer, AIMP, Audacity, and Spotify

Imaging - Paint.NET, Picasa, GIMP, InfanView, and XnView

Documents - Office (trial), OpenOffice, Adobe Reader, Foxit Reader, and CutePDF

Anti-Virus - Windows Essentials, Avast, and AVG Free

Runtimes - Flash (other OS), Flash (Windows), Java, .NET, and Silverlight

File Sharing - uTorrent and eMule

Other - Dropbox, Evernote, Bumptop, Steam, and Google Earth

Utilities - ImgBurn, CCLeaner, Launchy, Revo, Defraggler, RealVNC, CDBurnerXP, and Recuva

Compression - 7-zip and WinRAR

Developer Tools - Python, FileZilla, Notepad ++, JDK, WinSCP, Putty, and Eclipse

So as you can see it's an extensive list but not an entirely complete one (at least I don't think its complete yet) I would like to see some other tools listed in there, like under file sharing they should have LimeWire and under AV they should have Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. But like I said you can always request they add more software package options to the site.

So let's run through how to get your software and how the site works. All of the programs listed above have check boxes next to them; you simply check all of the boxes next to the software you would like to be included in your installer package (I know very difficult). Once you have them all checked you will click the Get Installer button at the bottom of the page. Notice there is a terms of service link that you should probably check out before you continue. I read it and it's the typical boring junk, I use this at my own risk, it's my responsibility...blah blah blah.

Once you have clicked the Get Installer button it will ask you to download the installer, click save file and choose the location. Let the installer download and once it's finished you simply run the installer and Ninite will download and install the latest versions of all of the software you choose in the list. It's that simple! And if you are thinking hey I didn't even have to register, that's right you don't have to give them anything to get the installer, what a great tool!

A few things I like about the way Ninite works, first it doesn't install anything other than the third party applications you choose. There is no Ninite software installed on your PC to use the tool. I also like that when the installer works it choose all the defaults and says no to all browser tool bars and junk installers that come along with many of these free applications. So you don't have to worry about having to say no to all of those, Ninite does it for you. I also like that Ninite works with all versions of Windows from XP to Vista and even Windows 7. I also like that the program is non-intrusive and can run in the back ground and won't slow down your machine (typically if you have a somewhat fast machine, don't expect it to fly on a 6 year old system with 256 of RAM).

So next time you lose all of your programs check out Ninite and they can probably help you out and save you some time when you need to reinstall a lot of your core free applications. Also make sure you suggest the other programs you would like to see on the list. I know I am going to be sending a few requests like LimeWire, YouTubeDownloader, and PDFCreator.