Ninite

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Ninite
Ninite-logo.png
Ninite-Homepage-20140821.png
Ninite web service
Original author(s)Patrick Swieskowski and Sascha Kuzins
Developer(s)Secure By Design Inc.
Operating systemWindows
TypePackage manager, software repository
LicenseFreemium
Websiteninite.com Edit this on Wikidata

Ninite (/ˈnɪnaɪt/;[1] codenamed Volery during private beta stage)[2][3] is a package management system offering that enables users to automatically install popular applications for their Windows operating system.[4] It enables users to make a selection from a list of applications and bundles the selection into a single installer package. It is free for personal use. A paid version, Ninite Pro, is available for professional use. Alternatively, a cheaper albeit less robust version of Ninite Pro known as Ninite Updater is available for users who want the ability of one-click updates without the other features offered by Ninite Pro.[5]

Features[]

Ninite works on Windows 7 and later. It presents the user with a list of programs and generates a custom installer executable based on the user's selection.[6] When run, the installer downloads and installs the selected programs. Ninite's installer always downloads the latest version of the program. This is accomplished by downloading a regularly-updated list of applications and their download URLs from the Ninite servers each time the program is run. Benefits of using Ninite rather than the individual applications' installers themselves include: toolbar/adware free installations, the ability to update multiple applications at once, automatic selection of architecture (64-bit vs 32-bit), language selection based on operating system's language, and error reporting, should one of the installations fail.[7]

Reception[]

Austrian magazine Der Standard wrote, Ninite gets a good basic package of software on the computer.[8] Computerwoche listed Ninite as number 11 of 28 reviewed freeware tools.[9] PC Magazine listed it as a Batch-Installer for software installation at one.[10]

Operation[]

On the Ninite webpage, the user chooses software of own preference by activating checkboxes and continues with downloading the executable installer, which is preconfigured to the users custom selection. By executing the installer, the previously chosen software is unattended (without any requested user interaction) installed on the computer.

Supported software[]

(as of May 2021)

Web browsers
Chrome, Opera, Firefox, Microsoft Edge
Messaging
Zoom, Discord, Skype, Pidgin, Thunderbird, Trillian
Media
iTunes, VLC, AIMP, foobar2000, Winamp, MusicBee, Audacity, K-Lite Codec Pack, GOM, Spotify, CCCP, MediaMonkey, HandBrake
Runtimes
Java (AdoptOpenJDK) x64 Version 8 and 11, Java (AdoptOpenJDK) 8, .NET Framework, Silverlight
Imaging
Krita, Blender, Paint.NET, GIMP, IrfanView, XnView, Inkscape, FastStone, Greenshot, ShareX
Documents
Foxit Reader, LibreOffice, SumatraPDF, CutePDF, OpenOffice
Security
MS Essentials, Malwarebytes, Avast, AVG, Spybot 2, Avira, SUPERAntiSpyware
File sharing
qBittorrent
Online storage
Dropbox, Google Backup and Sync, OneDrive, SugarSync
Other
Evernote, Google Earth, Steam, KeePass 2, Everything, NV Access
Utilities
TeamViewer 15, ImgBurn, RealVNC, TeraCopy, CDBurnerXP, Revo, Launchy, WinDirStat, Glary, InfraRecorder, Classic Start
Compression
7-Zip, PeaZip, WinRAR
Developer Tools
Python 3 (32 bit and 64 bit available), FileZilla, Notepad++, JDK (AdoptOpenJDK) x64 8 and 11, JDK (AdoptOpenJDK) 8, JDK (Amazon Corretto) x64 8 and 11, JDK (Amazon Corretto) 8, WinSCP, PuTTY, WinMerge, Eclipse, Visual Studio Code

To check current available software version, hover over the software choice on the Ninite website.

Known issues[]

The Ninite installer offers discontinued or unmaintained software, and in some cases will only install outdated versions of certain programs. In some cases this may mean that security issues related to that software will never be addressed.

Ninite continues to install Python v2.7 despite it being end of life.[11][12] For a while the Python Software Foundation has recommended Python users upgrade to Python v3 by the end of 2019. UK National Cyber Security Centre has also indicated there may be security issues with continuing to use Python v2.[13]

Microsoft Security Essentials is being discontinued in January 2020[14] at the same time as Windows 7. On newer versions of Windows, the same functionality is already installed with the operating system under the feature name of Windows Defender.

Classic Start was discontinued at the end of 2017.[15]

Other applications that have not been updated in over 3 years include:

Application Last Update
Launchy April 2010
InfraRecorder September 2012
ImgBurn June 2013
CutePDF October 2014
CCCP October 2015

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "How Ninite is Pronounced"
  2. ^ "Ninite Makes Installing Software Incredibly Simple". How-To Geek. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  3. ^ "Ninite Blog". Ninite Blog. Secure By Design Inc. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. ^ Broida, Rick (2009-11-03). "Free Tools for Fine-Tuning Your Windows 7 Setup". PCWorld. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  5. ^ "Ninite Updater - The Easiest Automatic Update Checker". Ninite - Install or Update Multiple Apps at Once. Secure By Design Inc. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  6. ^ "Ninite Bulk-Installs Great Free Windows Apps". Lifehacker.com. 2009-10-23. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
  7. ^ "How Ninite Works | Ninite Help". Ninite - Install or Update Multiple Apps at Once. Secure By Design Inc. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  8. ^ "Diese Programme sollte man auf dem neuen Gaming-Rechner installieren - derStandard.de". DER STANDARD. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  9. ^ "Kostenlose Win-10-Pflicht-Apps: Windows 10 - Die besten Freeware-Tools". www.computerwoche.de. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  10. ^ Bambusch, Fabian. "Ninite: So installieren Sie mehrere Windows-Programme gleichzeitig - PC Magazin". pc-magazin. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Sunsetting Python 2". Python Software Foundation. Retrieved 2 Jan 2020.
  12. ^ "Python 2 EOL: How to survive the end of Python 2". InfoWorld. Retrieved 2 Jan 2020.
  13. ^ "UK cybersecurity agency warns devs to drop Python 2 due to looming EOL & security risks". ZDNet. Retrieved 2 Jan 2020.
  14. ^ "Security Essentials Download". Microsoft. Retrieved 2 Jan 2020.
  15. ^ "Classic Shell no longer in development". Classic Shell Forum. Retrieved 2 Jan 2020.

External links[]

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