Using the Ninite website is the easiest and fastest way to install or update all the most common free programs. It is especially useful if you have a new computer (or have just reinstalled Windows) and need to download and install multiple programs.
How Does Ninite Work? Go to the Ninite site and you will see a list of the most common free or open-source software split into categories like Web Browsers, Media, Documents etc.
Each category has a list of optional programs you may want to install e.g. the Web Browsers category contains Chrome, Safari, Opera and Firefox. Tick (click in) the box next to each program you want to install or update (don’t go mad and choose absolutely everything).
Once you have selected the programs, click the ‘Get Installer’ button at the bottom of the page which will download the tiny Ninite installation file. Save this file onto your computer and double click to run it.
The Ninite installation will now download all the programs you chose and install each of them automatically – you can just sit back and wait for it to complete!
Tip: Obviously you need internet access for Ninite to download the programs. Most of the programs covered are quite small but the Office and Security programs can be very large and may take quite a long time to download.
Even better, you can run the same installation file again at any time in the future and it will only download and install any updates to those programs (it will skip them if they are up to date).
Benefits Of Ninite
- The programs you selected are installed automatically – no having to click Next all the time or choose loads of options.
- The programs are installed without any extra toolbars or ‘junk’ that you may unwittingly download if you install them manually.
- The Ninite installation file will always download the latest version of the programs you selected – no matter when you first saved the installation file.
- The Ninite installation file will skip any programs that are already up to date.
- You can therefore use your original Ninite installation file at a later date to update the programs to their latest versions – just run it again and it will download and install new versions, skipping any that don’t need updating.
- There is no need to sign up/register to use Ninite and it is free for personal use.
- Ninite automatically chooses the correct language and version (32-bit or 64-bit version) of programs to match your computer.
Conclusion
Ninite is an excellent way to set up a new computer quickly and also makes it easy to update the most common free programs.
We have talked before about the need to update programs like Adobe Reader, Java, Flash Player, Open Office and VLC Media Player but some people still don’t bother because it is ‘too complicated’ or they worry they will ‘download the wrong one’.
Ninite makes updating simple – just select the programs once and download the Ninite file then run it to check for any updates and install new versions.
