Use 'Ninite' to Install All Basic IT Apps at Once

The Problem With Setting Up a Fresh Windows PC

Installing the same 10–15 basic apps on every new workstation — a browser, 7-Zip, VLC, a PDF reader, VS Code — means visiting a dozen different websites, dodging bundled toolbars and "recommended" adware checkboxes, and clicking through setup wizards one at a time. Ninite solves this by building you a single custom installer that silently installs exactly the apps you picked, always grabbing the latest stable version directly from each vendor, with no bundleware and no prompts to click through.

Step 1: Build Your Installer

1. Go to ninite.com in a browser.
2. Check the boxes next to every app you want — the site groups them by category: Web Browsers, Compression, Documents, Media, Runtimes, Developer Tools, Security, and more (Chrome, Firefox, 7-Zip, VLC, Adobe Reader, VS Code, Notepad++, Java, .NET runtimes, Zoom, etc.).
3. Click the Get Installer button at the bottom of the page.
4. A single .exe file downloads, named after the apps you selected (e.g. Ninite Chrome 7-Zip VLC Installer.exe).

Step 2: Run It

1. Double-click the downloaded installer (an internet connection is required, since it downloads each app fresh rather than bundling installers inside the file).
2. Ninite runs unattended: it downloads each selected app's latest version directly from the vendor, verifies it, installs it silently with sane defaults, declines toolbars and bundled offers automatically, and skips any app you already have that's already up to date.
3. A single progress window shows the status of each app (Installing, Updating, or Already current).
4. When finished, it shows a green checkmark for every successful install. No reboots are needed for most apps; a few (runtime frameworks especially) may prompt at the end.

Why This Beats Manual Installs for IT Work

• No bundled junk. Ninite's installers strip out toolbars, browser hijackers, and "recommended" third-party offers that vendor installers often try to sneak in.
• Always current. Because it fetches live at run time rather than shipping a static installer, you never end up installing an outdated version that immediately needs a security patch.
• Batch and unattended. One click installs everything in sequence with no wizards to babysit — useful for setting up several machines back to back.
• Safe to re-run. Running the same installer again on a machine that already has the apps just updates them to the latest version and skips anything current, which makes it a handy periodic "update everything" tool too.

Using It for Ongoing Updates, Not Just Setup

Because Ninite detects existing installs and updates them in place, you can re-run the same installer file periodically as a lightweight patch-management tool for the apps it covers. This won't replace a proper patch management system (WSUS, Intune, PDQ Deploy, etc.) in a managed enterprise environment, but for a small business, home lab, or personal machine fleet, running a saved Ninite installer once a month keeps browsers, compression tools, and media players current without manually checking each one.

Automating It Further (Ninite Pro)

For managed environments with multiple machines, Ninite also offers a paid Ninite Pro tier that adds remote deployment, scheduled automatic updates across a fleet of machines, and reporting — useful if you're managing more than a handful of endpoints and want centralized visibility into which machines are behind. The free version covers the vast majority of one-off setup and personal use cases.