Save Time by Using Ninite to Install Your Free Applications!

Dangers of Phising Email Scams

Phishing email has been around for quite some time and it seems as if the problem is growing bigger and bigger every year. One of the main reason is due to the fact that the attack does not focus on hacking some computer or machine but rather focusing on the computer users themselves. Yes you read that right. A human can be hacked as well! Although probably not how you're thinking of it at first, after reading about phishing emails, you'll know exactly what I mean.
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Windows 7 Remote Assistance

If you want something done right, do it yourself. If you are a administrator or a PC technician of some sort, you'll know exactly what I mean. No matter how hard you teach users how to use a computer, there are many times when they just can't seem to accomplish a task whether that may be configuring a program to work correctly or fixing a computer problem. That is where you, the problem solver, step in to take over. With the Windows Remote Assistance feature, you can easily and remotely connect to a user's computer and take control of it.
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Start using virtual machines

Virtualization have once been thought of as a technology only big businesses would incorporate in their environments. Now days however, smaller businesses and even home users are realizing the many benefits of using this great technology to help them not only lower costs, but also for security purposes as well. The good news is, while the underlying structure of virtualization is pretty complicated, you don't necessarily have to be a rocket scientist to actually use it!
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protect your laptop with bitlocker

While the percentage of laptop theft continues to soar, users are still unconcerned about protecting their valuable data! Although you may give yourself a pat on the back for having a backup of your data elsewhere, have you stopped and considered what will happen to that same unencrypted data on your laptop that's now in the hands of a complete stranger? While buying another laptop is not the end of the world, have you placed a 'value' on your data itself?
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create a windows 7 system image

I've talked about it before but I don't believe I actually went into details on how to actually create one. With the arrival of Windows 7, the timing couldn't be any more perfect. In Windows Vista, only users with the Ultimate edition were allowed to create a system image backup. The good news is, with Windows 7, Home Premium members are also allowed to enjoy this feature! That's right. No need to pony up additional money to purchase third-party software.
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repairing your xbox 360's rrod

My Xbox 360 Elite console recently broke down after my Playstation 3 console got knocked out as well. This is my second Xbox. I bought this Elite version on launch day at BestBuy and after a short while, gave me the dreaded Red Rings of Death (RROD). Luckily, I had store warranty so all I had to do was take it back and they gladly gave me a spanking new console. Fast forward to the present and the console once again broke down. I don't have the RROD but I can't get any video or audio signal to my HDTV via an HDMI or component connection.
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repairing your ps3's ylod

A while back, my PS3 suffered the dreaded Yellow Light of Death (YLOD) and my machine basically turned into a very expensive paper weight. My warranty period was clearly over and so in order to fix the problem, I had to send it in to Sony and pay a fee of $150. Here's the problem though. They're not going to just fix my PS3 and give it back to me. They're going to just hand me a refurbished unit (which most likely was turned in by another user with similar problems in the first place), slap on a short warranty period (I believe it's for 90 days) for that second-hand console and call it a day.
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You know you're a real geek when you reinstall/restore your computer's operating system every 6 months or so just to get that 'fresh' and 'clean' feeling. That's good and all but we all know how much of a nightmare it is when it comes time to reinstalling back all of our favorite free software. Using a baseline image you've created earlier (created either by a third party software or with Windows Backup) can definitely eliminate that hassle but not everyone is fond of creating baseline system images. With free online service Ninite, users have the ability to quickly and easily install some of the most popular free software out there with minimum hassle.

Ninite

Ninite is a free, no frills online service that allows you to select the applications you want to install and then being able to install all of them onto your computer with its custom installer. The main advantage of course is that you no longer have to manually visit each application website, download the stand-alone executable, start the installer, answer the prompts and waiting for it to actually install. Ninite does all of this for you. The only thing you need to do is selecting what you actually want to get installed, download the custom installer from Ninite and then using that installer to install everything all at once.
If you are worried about applications that try to sneak in crapware or try to install some useless toolbar that you'll never use (it usually ask you of this during the installation procedure in hopes that you just click Yes through all of the prompts without actually reading it), you can can safely relax because by default, Ninite says 'no' to all of those options.

Using Ninite

1. Using Ninite couldn't be any more simpler. Just visit Ninite's website to begin. There is no sign up requirement of any kind. Anyone is free to use the service.

2. Next, simply place a checkmark on the applications you wish to install onto your computer. While I can't be sure of this, I'm guessing that the developers of Ninite will update each application as soon as a new version is available on their website. As you'll see later, Ninite actually downloads the executable for your app at time of installation and not when you download the actual Ninite installer. This can mean that Ninite will download and use the newest version of your app. If for some reason the version for an application you have isn't the newest version, you can simply update it manually after the Ninite installation.
As you can see, there are quite a few of applications that I'm sure most of you are familiar with. Ninite categorizes each application under it's respective function. Obviously, all applications are freewares. Also, Ninite will make a check of your PC to see which language it should use along with whether you are using a 64bit version of Windows or not. This helps it to download the best version for your operating system. Very cool!

3. Once you have checked all the applications you want to install, it is now time for Ninite to build our custom installer for download. Simply head to the bottom and click the 'Get Installer' button. In my scenario, I will be installing Firefox, VLC, Irfanview, Foxit Reader, Microsoft Security Essentials, Flash, along with 7-Zip in my Windows XP Mode virtual machine.

Almost immediately, I get the download link from Ninite. Click on the link to save the installer file on your Desktop or location of preference.

Once downloaded, you should then have a Ninite installer icon that should look like this (obviously, the name of the icon will vary depending on what your selected apps are):

4. To start the installation, simply double click on the Ninite icon. Ninite will actually then begin downloading the 'actual' executable for those apps you have selected and begin to install them one by one, all without your intervention. The good news is that Ninite doesn't actually get installed along with your other programs! It just sort of acts as a middleman and does all the work for you. Once everything is installed, simply reboot your computer if necessary to finish it up. In the second picture, you can see that all of the apps have been installed successfully. It took less than five minutes. Very awesome indeed!

If you have an app that you wish to see Ninite support in the future, simply tell the developers about it on the bottom of Ninite's website. You do not have to include your email address. For example, I've told them about DVD Flick and Media Player Classic, which is an awesome and free DVD creator and movie player, respectively. Have fun with this!

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