Tag: INSTALLER

One thing that's always bugged me about cleaning up and repairing systems for my customers is the fact that the Windows Installer Service doesn't run in Safe Mode -- not by default, anyways. That means there's additional tinkering involved before I can remove any number of annoying and useless applications -- and installing useful programs which require the Installer service to be running. ...

There was a bit of a furore over Microsoft's 'Windows 7 Netbook Installation tool' back in November because they broke the cardinal rule this decade of software development: they used open-source code and didn't declare it. Even worse, they modified open-source code and locked it up in proprietary, closed-source software. FOR SHAME! But it's OK: it was just a mistake, an honest mistake. They ...

Where would you turn if you were looking for ways to capture new users for your web browser? And not necessarily savvy tech-types like Download Squad readers. I'm talking about average users, who might not know what Google Chrome is - or even what a web browser is, for that matter. Here's a wacky idea. What not ask the developers of one of the most popular pieces of free software in the entire ...

So you picked up a new Windows 7 laptop (or desktop) or you're planning on buying one in the very near future? If you took a look at display models in stores like Best Buy or Frye's, you no doubt noticed that new systems come with a lot of programs pre-installed. Lots of software is a good thing, right? Not always. Trouble is, what you get is often a) not really useful software or b) a ...

While most users won't find Ninite all that useful (there is one exception which I'll be writing about later today), the "computer friend" or family technician will probably love it. Instead of sitting around while you wait for a dozen of your favorite apps to finish installing on a pal's computer, just check off what you want on the Ninite web site, launch your customized installer, and sit ...

If you have already downloaded - or plan on downloading - a purchased copy of Windows 7, you may need a tool to help you turn the bits into something bootable so you can actually start installing your new OS. By some amazing coincidence, Microsoft has a tool designed to handle just such an emergency! Grab the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool and follow the on-screen instructions and you'll ...

Now that I've managed to pick up a spare laptop on the cheap, I finally have a dedicated Linux machine to experiment with. Priority number one since I'm Off the Clock for the weekend: get some games installed that are more fun than the ones Ubuntu ships (sorry Nibbles and Gnometris). Enter djl. Think of it as a kind of FOSS version of Steam. Except, of course, that all the games are totally ...

If you're going to be buying a new computer soon, or if you regularly work on a number of different computers, you're probably going to spend a fair bit of time installing the latest version of a bunch of applications that you use most frequently. And that means downloading a bunch of apps, and then clicking next a few dozen times to until everything is configured properly. Or you can use ...

We've covered applications that attempt to download and install the latest versions of your Windows software in the past. But Ketarin takes a different approach. You can enter a list of applications you want to track, and it will automatically check the download locations to see if there are new versions available. If there are, it will download the installer files to the directory of your ...

As I've mentioned before, I'm a fan of apt-get. It's an extremely easy way to get tons of new applications installed on a new Linux installation. Plenty of similar options exist for Windows, but one stands out. GetIt combines the power of three Windows implementations of the system - AppSnap, AppUpdater, and Win-Get. Once you've got all your engines installed, use Get-it's GUI to set them up ...

Because no space in this world is immune from advertising, you're about to see ads start popping up in software installers. OpenCandy, the company providing the technology says software developers can use their software in one of two ways. During the installation process, users will either see: An option to install a similar application An ad But if you ask me, both options are an ad. Not ...

OpenSUSE has always been an odd sort of Linux distribution. It's always been reasonably user friendly, very stable, and quite nicely pulled off the not-so-easy task of being good for new users while offering advanced and power users the flexibility and freedom they require. Yet OpenSUSE often gets a bad wrap. There's that whole Novell/Microsoft/the world is ending conspiracy thing going on, for ...

We love executable Windows apps that don't need to be installed. They don't muck up you registry and other settings, and when you want to delete them, you just delete the file or folder, no add/remove programs dialog required. Best of all, most of these applications can be run from a USB flash drive which means you can carry them with you and run them on any computer. But there are a few ...

UNetbootin is a tool that makes installing Linux about as easy as it can be. Like Wubi, you can install UNetbootin on a Windows partition to get started. Unlike Wubi, the end result with UNetbootin is a dual-boot machine that can boot either into a Windows partition or a Linux one. So why use UNetbootin instead of downloading and burning a liveCD? Well, if you don't have a spare CD-R writing ...

As regular computer user, I don't have much interest in migrating to Vista in the immediate future. I don't think it offers any great leap in usability or functionality over XP. UAC (User Access Control) is definitely much needed and will improve security overall but it can be annoying as hell for average users. Aero Glass UI is nice to look at but does nothing to actually let you work more ...