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The Ninite Updater is pretty much painless. It sits in your systray and notifies you when there is an update.

You then open it up and choose what you want to update and it will automate downloading and installing the update while leaving bloat such as new icons everywhere behind.

https://ninite.com/updater/

easy for you

https://ninite.com/firefox-vlc...

Ninite is a very cool speed/bulk installer Just [that app|those apps] get installed (or updated) no toolbars extra programs or browser hijacks.

if you have a few computers its worth it to stump for a Pro installer (btw you get extra choices in Pro mode including Flash)

That's the tragedy of all this nagware... upgrading is not guaranteed to work and can lead to a hosed system.

Best thing to do is mothball your old drive, get a new SSD, and install fresh. All you need is here to create a legit installable DVD or USB stick, and a license key from any of Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10, and you don't really even need the key because unlicensed Windows 10 doesn't do much to bitch at you except put up a water-mark on the desktop and present an alert from time to time about how great it is to have a fully legal copy. Unlicensed Windows 10 does none of that auto logout or shutdown nonesense (at least, not for now).

If you think you have too much installed cruft on your machine to start fresh, well, all that cruft is more likely to fuck up the magic upgrade process. Catch-22. Back up your shit, find your old install media, check out ninite for installing free software and Steam or Gog for installing games. Besides, new SSDs these days are way good and affordable. Better than taking a chance at some hit-or-miss upgrade routine. Even Linux distros haven't perfected major in-place upgrades. Always safer to start over fresh, and your rig will thank you for it.

Considering all I use Edge for is visiting http://ninite.com/ to install a real browser along with a lot of other useful applications, it works plenty fine.

You might be aware of this, but just make a ninite executable with Java etc. Run it as a weekly task and you'll never have any of these issues again.

Versions I use:

iPhone: https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...
Android: https://play.google.com/store/...
Windows: https://ninite.com/keepass
Linux: http://keepass.info/help/v2/se... - Mono supported

More versions (official and unofficial at: http://keepass.info/download.h... )

Without Dropbox access to dropbox, you could use others: Onedrive, Google Drive, Box, etc... whats available largely depends on whats allowed (or just not yet blocked yet). Also, options MIGHT be expanded with plugins: http://keepass.info/plugins.ht...

Keepass allows plugins... one of which has Two Factor: http://keepass.info/plugins.ht... - I've never used it, so I'll leave it up to you. Other options exist on at the plugins link above.

If you going to use a Linux distro for the most comparability that would be a Debian base OS. To have the largest and lights OS there are only 3 that come to mind. This would Avlinux, Musix,& Kxstudio, this are all Debian base and Ubuntu comparable. And most of very light on resources making then good contenders for multiple applications. Plus they all have a great application pool for additional software packages. The last one good be OpenSuse it comes with multiple boot options, and simple to use repositories. And it has great tools for installing software. Most of the tools that you will need will be installed by default with this distributions. As for the part of the adobe software just use 10% of you machines for other applications inside windows. If you have a limitation of budget you can start by VR the Windows PC and just purchase what you need. This will save on the amount of licensees you will have to purchase. You can purchase windows 7 pro and ultimate at low value and they will be supported till 2020. you can update with and WSUS offline software and to install other software for use ninite. To monitor you students teach lessons via the PC screen & messages Here are that links to all of the software https://ninite.com/ http://italc.sourceforge.net/ http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/dow... https://musixdistro.wordpress.... http://www.bandshed.net/AVLinu... http://kxstudio.linuxaudio.org... http://www.linuxveda.com/2014/...

well intelligent lifeforms will have https://ninite.com/chrome-fire... on a flashdrive ready to go (heck having a Ninite Pro sub will save a lot of headaches)

Uhhh...why would you do that? Windows can take care of drivers through WU, if you just have to have the ones that came with the board? Most come with a CD that has a "1 click install" option. As for third party...Ninite. All automated, NO ADWARE, just pick what you want and run the installer...you're welcome :-)

Seconded on Unchecky. Another thing crapware installers commonly do is obfuscate below multiple layers of double-negatives: "Are you sure you don't want to not install Crapware Toolbar now?" So even the reasonably savvy and aware can be misled into making the wrong choice. Unchecky helps greatly with that. Another option is to use Ninite for installing all sorts of useful stuff, including Java. Ninite automatically unchecks all the crapware checkboxes as well.

If all anti-virus softwares started to list any installer with an "Opt-Out" procedure as "Potentially Unwanted Program Installer" it would put an end to the habit of pushing shit down the throat of users.

The problem is not so much people competent with tech as people that don't know left from right on computers and just clicks "Ok". They suffer from all that crap like a new browser installed as well as changed homepages and search providers and then they scream that they don't understand their computer.

ImgBurn started including OpenCandy Adware in their installer. I didn't notice until Symantec at work flagged the Installer. I didn't notice it at home because I install it using Ninite (which means I don't have to opt out), and I didn't notice at install time at work because it couldn't get an internet connection through the proxy during install-time, so the OpenCandy Opt-out page never showed up in the installer.

How exactly is this an OS issue? This is an apps issue.

Agree, unfortunately it's getting worse. And this isn't a new thing for Java. Ask Toolbar, and other shovelware has been included before. At least a browser search engine change is fairly benign. Flash keeps trying to install a junk McAfee security scan (that can conflict with AV software)when doing updates. uTorrent (the once mighty Torrent Client), tries to install Conduit browser hijacker. Even ImgBurn, the once great CD/DVD burning tool now has OpenCandy Adware junk bundled.

Download.com used to be a safe place I could direct people to download software. Now it tries to install junkware. SourceForge tried to bundle adware with people's open source projects.

For now at least Ninite is a safe place to get a lot of essential software without opting out of installers. Another trick that works is a lot of Adware won't try to install if there isn't an active internet connection.

I see this ninite.com thing advertised aggressively in Slashdot comments nowadays. After a quick look, the free version doesn't let me lock a program to a specific version, so if I update, I have to update all software that Ninite manages. Frankly, that sucksâ"much like Windows 10 that won't let me defer updates anymore.

(Posting AC to preserve mods, but this is important)

When you run a Ninite installer, yes it will update all apps packaged with that installer. But you can download as many installers as you want. So I download one installer at initial PC setup that installs everything, then I make an installer that only updates the programs I want to update, and sometimes I get a Ninite installer for a single program, just so I don't have to worry about bundled crap. So Ninite is still the answer.

E.g., let's say you've got your system up and running, and PDF Creator keeps bugging you to update. Just go here and download the PDF Creator updater.

First thing is install a new browser, second thing is install adblock plus, the third is to install VLC.

First thing is go to ninite.com, second thing is click a bunch of checkboxes, the third is to go make a pot of coffee.

Have you heard of http://ninite.com/?

You can install Filezilla directly from them without the bundled malware and other shenanigans.

Their installer does take away choice so software will install to the default location. But it skips desktop shortcuts, bundled toolbars, and other crap I don't want.

They work especially well when you are setting up a new PC, you simply select what you want to install and it will automatically install the latest versions of everything without you needing to track down individual installers or prompting you during installation.

For those who still use Windows and want GIMP (and a LOT of other opensource and freeware Windows programs) you can't beat Ninite.. https://ninite.com/ Ninite does all of the work to make sure you only get the desired opensource program and NONE of the crapware/malware garbage that so many installers are adding on today.. (Yes, I'm looking at YOU, Oracle... You and your fuckin' Ask toolbar on Java installs)... Thankfully I've switched completely to Linux and don't have to worry about that crap...

Some people like having software available. They want to buy a machine and go. That said, what they could do is have an interface for e.g. https://ninite.com/ so people who are able can install what they want.

The issue is that the majority of people will have no idea what yo install or how to do it.

That's why you run decrapifier as the very first thing. http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

Only then do you run your ninite selection. https://ninite.com/

Other workarounds:
Use ninite, and you will get the latest 32 bit and 64 bit JREs. Run the installer again and it updates again. No spyware pushed by updates. Also does more than Java.

If you prefer, you can install the JRE the normal way, and then in the Java Control Panel (start / type 'java' / click on 'Configure Java', or click the java icon in the control panel), go to advanced, scroll to the bottom, and check the last checkbox Suppress sponsor offers when installing or updating Java. All fixed, and you can use the standard java update method. Wish I could make a .reg for this, and push it out with GP or as a login script.

What they will say is "I seached and clicked on the link that looked like the offical website." Oh and it was the place to download, because it even said so in the white thingy on the top.

Or: "Well, I wanted to download from the site, but they told me I must pay, so I downloaded a free version that I wanted for this program." (Because the free version is hidden on the website.

https://ninite.com/ might be easier or just charge them for what you are worth and ignore them if they have problems.

Also ninite is still safe, AFAIK. It's especially helpful if you want to download and install a bunch of different applications at once.

Why does Windows keep this antiquated process around?

Liability? The software that people install is not Microsoft software, nor is it compiled by Microsoft.

With Linux there are also some third party install programs. Most because they are not open source.

So it is not Windows that keep this antiquated process. It is the people who write the programs who all have a different idea on how to do things. Just having a discussion if a user should or should not have an option as default will give various answers.

https://ninite.com/ will do already a lot already to overcome that.

Obviously what Microsoft could easily do is make something similar and ask developers to give the programs to them in a certain format. I am also sure that Microsoft does not want to be a reseller.

Hello, person who has never used Ninite.

The most popular site for that is: https://ninite.com/

Your IE is vulnerable to any malware that will pop-up through an ad, so keep your interaction with IE to a minimum.

• Open explorer (Win-E). Type www.ninite.com (ninite singular, not ninites, that's a fake site last I checked).
• Important, as soon as IE comes-up, you will need to kill the second tab before any advert loads.
• Select Chrome/Firefox/Security essentials and whatever else you might need

Or if you really can't remember the website's name (happens with old age), just type www.ie7.com in explorer. Trust me on that one :-)

http://www.ninite.com/

And I recommend Ninite when you need to do this sort of thing. Doesn't cover everything but it has enough to make it very handy.

Or if he is constantly doing installs and doesn't want to keep having to burn .ISOs he can just use WSUS Offline dropped into a share folder on his network and call it a day. I have a copy on my network and it has everything from XP and Office 2K3 to Win 8.1 and Office 2K10 on it and between that and Ninite the amount of time it takes to go from bare metal to fully patched and ready to go has dropped right off the map. What is nice is the fact you can just flip UAC off and have it run fully unattended, just run it and it'll take care of any reboots required and fully patch the system, install the latest IE and DirectX as well as .NET and Office patches if you want, easy peasy.

Install and Update All Your Programs at Once http://ninite.com/

You are most welcome and if you haven't heard of them before let old Hairy turn you on to a couple of other "shop guy tricks", specifically WSUS Offline and Ninite.

These two little life savers can take the time from starting a windows install to finished and ready to go from several hours to less than an hour and a half. You use WSUS Offline to download all the updates, service packs, as well as DirectX,IE, and .NET updates and then just slap that sucker onto a USB drive (or in the case of the shop a share drive on the LAN) and let it go, takes all the hassle out of taking a Windows system from fresh install to ready to go. Works on XP- Win 8.1 so it doesn't matter which one you are using either.

And Ninite? Ohhh you are gonna love Ninite, he is the PC fixit guy's best buddy. With ninite all your major third party software is taken care of, you've got browsers and codecs and media players and antivirus and IMs and pretty much all of the stuff your average person wants, with Ninite you just check the boxes and go. oh and NO TOOLBARS, no extras, none of the crap that so many programs drag along these days, just a clean unattended install of the latest version of whatever you picked. As an added bonus if you need to update and aren't sure if your software is out of date? just check the boxes and run it, Ninite will only install if you have the older version.

So there ya have it, with that and the little 3 step I posted earlier you can take a PC from bare metal to grandma proof in no time flat, enjoy!

a better workaround from the bits of Win that are braindead

http://ninite.com/7zip-avast-chrome-classicstart-firefox-foxit-infrarecorder-irfanview-libreoffice-notepadplusplus-opera-pdfcreator-vlc/

download that and save to a flash drive

But how easy is it for Joe and Jane Normal to even FIND that, much less disable it? To steal a line from Tron "I stand for the users" and I fricking HATE when a program uses shit like Task Scheduler without giving an easy UI element in the program to disable it. Last I checked there was NO checkbox or button to disable that from within Chrome, with Dragon there is a checkbox so it CAN be done in a Chromium based browser and in Pale Moon, the Gecko based I hand to customers, it doesn't run any service at all, just doing the IMHO more sane thing of checking upon launch for any updates.

Just remember what is trivial for YOU to do does NOT mean its trivial for THEM to do and fixing Windows boxes 6 days a week I can tell you that all that shit loading itself as services and Task Scheduler tasks DOES weigh down a system pretty badly, especially those AMD Bobcat duals that Worst Buy has been pushing for home boxes and laptops of late. I personally like the Bobcat chips because of how insanely low powered they are but you really have to watch not getting too much shit loading in the background or they just crawl, which is why shit loading in Task Scheduler without a UI in program irks me as most users don't even know where Task Scheduler is, much less how to tell what is an important Windows service and what is just bullshit. There is NO REASON why Google couldn't take the more sane approach of just checking on startup for a new version, this running constantly in the background is just bullshit IMHO.

So for my users I disable all that phone home checkers and services and crap and just have Filehippo Update Checker set to run once a day. Not only does this cut down a HELL of a lot in used resources as Filehippo only uses around half a Mb of RAM and less than 2% of CPU even on a Bobcat or Atom but it also gives the user a "one stop shop" that lets them update ALL the major third party stuff from one simple to use location. Between that and Ninite for initial installs its better for me, better for them, and you don't have every dang program running in the background constantly checking for updates which is just a better way to do it IMHO.

and this is why you should have the download from
http://ninite.com/flash-flashie-java-shockwave/

as a Run Before Anything Else program on a flashkey you use to do Computer setups.

(and yes you can have it download//install a number of other programs in the same run)

If you have the Internet Hoss you are a good 90% of the way there. As I said there are plenty of old tech guys like me that are happy to steer folks in the right direction, hell advice is free. And you don't have to DIY, just grab a pre-built Systemmax and there ya go. And frankly the only reason i know the chip names is I like reading about chip tech, its just easier to say Bobcat than E300-E1300 or Thuban instead of 10xx T 6 core series.

But let us say for the sake of argument you were my customer and wanted an HTPC that would look snazzy and game. For a case I'd have you pick one from a couple of choices so you can choose something you thought looked purty. Now if you just wanted the casual stuff, more HT than game? Then here ya go, a dual core Bobcat (FYI Bobcat is similar to Atom but with slightly more powerful CPU and a MUCH more powerful GPU, perfect for media boxes and casual gaming) and it even comes with the cute case and the RAM. Of course if you were an actual customer I'd know the price instead of having to make rough guesses, but either one of these would game nicely and I would tell you if you ONLY wanted to game the Athlon would probably make you VERY happy,my youngest is gaming on that chip as we speak, or if you want to be able to game AND transcode video or burn DVDs? Then the X6 naturally has more punch. With prices that low you can sell the case you don't need on Craigslist and save yourself even more money, I would usually give $20-$25 off the build if it came with a case they didn't want as I can always use nice cases.

And then it'd simply be a matter of picking a graphics card and slapping on the OS, neither one is hard. If you want cheap with good performance the HD4850 is dirt cheap and will do most games at med-high to high, if you don't mind spending a little more up front to save on your electric bill the HD7770 cards use 40% less power under load and the 77xx cards has the new "deep idle" where it will shut down the majority of the card when you are saying chatting or surfing which lowers the power to something like 16w, which for a gaming card is just crazy low.

But honestly any teenager that can read can build one of these, like I said they comes with pictures and a step by step how-to with the board and the case. Total build time if you aren't in a rush? About an hour and a half, two and a half if you've never done one and triple check everything. I've whipped off four in a day and i'm not speedy. Once you slap the parts in you just fire her up and stick in the OS disc, after that its all "clicky clicky" simple. Then install steam and get to gaming Hoss, if you got the parts at 4PM there is no reason why you couldn't be firing up a game before 8PM and again that is with you taking your time, you use something like Ninite to install the third party software and you can be gaming by 6:30 PM. And notice they not only have browser, AVs, and runtimes like Flash but the have Steam as well so you can just check the boxes to everything you want and it'll do all the work, couldn't be simpler.

I guess it tells you something when even ninite comes with a start menu replacement. Those things must be installed on assloads of machines.

And the simple fact is its butt simple to give Windows the same functionality so ANY application that can print can give you a PDF. Simply go to Ninite and check the box for either PDFCreator or CutePDF, your choice, then run it. Tada! Now any Windows application that can print can print as PDF.

And building in a PDF reader is just dumb, either you have to cripple the hell out of it so many docs made with Adobe Reader won't format correctly or you open a big ass hole in the security thanks to how all the extra crap Adobe added to the PDF format in later years is easily pwned.

Everybody else can cheer if they want but I have a feeling the hackers are cheering just as loudly. PDF was a good idea once upon a time but to sell new versions of Acrobat Adobe just kept adding more and more shit that frankly never should have been in a portable DOCUMENT format and now its a major security risk. Does anybody know if its easily removed or at the very least disabled?

Why is this flamebait? Do you know how many security patches are in the average Windows SP? I'm sorry but anybody who has waited this long and not applied SP1 is indeed an idiot because every script kiddie on the planet uses those patches and SPs to reverse engineer new exploits specifically targeting fools that don't update the thing.

That said just because you need to apply an SP or a shitload of patches doesn't mean you have to do it the stupid way, not when there is WSUS Offline which will let you download and unattended install the service pack AND all the patches AND all the .NET updates AND any MS Office SPs and updates from 2K3-2K10 AND update DirectX AND Silverlight AND Windows media player AND Ineternet explorer, all at once and unattended. Granted if you are doing a clean install of RTM you'll probably have to run it twice of be sure to turn off UAC until you are done as it can't reboot and re-run itself with UAC on but for all the benefits of having everything done automatically while you go have lunch its well worth that tiny bit of effort.

So there really is no excuse as between WSUS and Ninite for all your third party stuff unattended, like flash, hulu, your choice of several browsers and AVs, etc you can take a bare drive and have a fully loaded fully patched Win 7 system in less than an hour and a half with you only being required for maybe 5 clicks all told, everything is taken care of.

So I'm sorry but the parent is right, anybody that doesn't install SP1 is an idiot, they might as well turn off their firewall and take their unpatched IE and start surfing dodgy websites because they are frankly asking for it.

Let's be realistic here with your last comment. Running Windows is frankly asking for it.

Especially when you have to go through all that bullshit just so you can finally answer "Yes" to the person who's been waiting 3 hours to finally get online after you rebuilt their (infected) computer from scratch.

Oh yeah, almost forgot, you better install anti-malware, anti-spyware, and anti-virus too. Oh, and don't forget to patch those too. Yeah, just tell the user to come back in another hour or two. It might be ready by then.

Why is this flamebait? Do you know how many security patches are in the average Windows SP? I'm sorry but anybody who has waited this long and not applied SP1 is indeed an idiot because every script kiddie on the planet uses those patches and SPs to reverse engineer new exploits specifically targeting fools that don't update the thing.

That said just because you need to apply an SP or a shitload of patches doesn't mean you have to do it the stupid way, not when there is WSUS Offline which will let you download and unattended install the service pack AND all the patches AND all the .NET updates AND any MS Office SPs and updates from 2K3-2K10 AND update DirectX AND Silverlight AND Windows media player AND Ineternet explorer, all at once and unattended. Granted if you are doing a clean install of RTM you'll probably have to run it twice of be sure to turn off UAC until you are done as it can't reboot and re-run itself with UAC on but for all the benefits of having everything done automatically while you go have lunch its well worth that tiny bit of effort.

So there really is no excuse as between WSUS and Ninite for all your third party stuff unattended, like flash, hulu, your choice of several browsers and AVs, etc you can take a bare drive and have a fully loaded fully patched Win 7 system in less than an hour and a half with you only being required for maybe 5 clicks all told, everything is taken care of.

So I'm sorry but the parent is right, anybody that doesn't install SP1 is an idiot, they might as well turn off their firewall and take their unpatched IE and start surfing dodgy websites because they are frankly asking for it.

In a word, run nightly ninite :)

I like piriform's products, but their corporate behavior is slightly past the point of annoyance now. First the dumbasses asked Ninite to delist their products. Well, that's how I heard of you in the first place! Then they start going after people who make open source products? Well, guess what fuckers, I'm stopping the use of your products and I'll instead contribute the features I need (if any) to bleachbit. So there. I'll need to look for a different disk defragmenter.

The easiest way to get Paint.NET is NOT from the actual devs but from Ninite which is about as easy as you can get. Simply send 'em a link to Ninite, tell 'em which boxes to check, then run it, its THAT simple. Oh and no toolbars or crapware like what many companies push, just sane defaults and an icon dropped on the desktop. You can even use it as an updater as it will skip any software you choose that is already up to date.

Good theory, but what's the real world infection rate of Windows to Linux? 10^3? 10^4? Even given the bigger install base of around 10^1, that's bad.

Because nobody tries to do it. I mean if you were a malware writer, would you spend time to create a new malware that is compatible with 1% of desktops or 90% of desktops?

While Linux, by default, has higher system security (as users do not run as root, though the same is true for Windows Vista and up too), user security is the same. "rm -rf ~/" works quite well even from limited users account. On the other hand, "rootkits" were first developed for Linux...

Linux is also great on desktops. I know, because I've been using it as my primary desktop OS for years. I've also set up Linux desktops for peers seniors, and adolescents. They're not programmers, and neither am I. Many of these setups I never see again after I set them up.

I am also using Linux on a desktop at work. Disregarding the fact about games, Linux still has problems on desktop, for example, watching a youtube video on full screen is rather slow. Again, at work it's not a problem.

You already know that Linux abounds on servers, and again, we're talking about real world. Just because malware exists for platforms other than Windows, doesn't make it a comparable problem.

I'm sure that the infection rate of Windows servers is rather low too. As for Android, it is a form of Linux with high market share. Android is also more restricted than desktop-Linux, so if malware authors figured out how to infect it, then infecting desktop Linux would also be easy if it was worth infecting...

Next comes the problem of finding, downloading and installing drivers, basic usability software (like a web browser), removing crapware if you happen to be working with an OEM image, and fixing all the insane defaults.

Drivers are usually available at the manufacturers web site - unless the hardware is very old or unusual. Then again, to make a RS422 card work on Linux I had to edit the source of the drivers because they would not compile on Debian 5 (when it was current).
For software - basic software can be installed quickly using http://ninite.com/>Ninite
For defaults - that's what nLite is for - to make your own defaults.

In the real world, most Linux-compatible software comes with the source code, while for Windows it does not.

And usually you do not need to run a 20 year old program on a new computer. That is usually limited to very expensive software that is not updated anymore (or the company wants you to buy the new version for a lot of money), but the old version still works. That usually does not come with source code regardless of the OS. Still, old binaries run quite well on Windows XP or 7 (two currently most popular desktop versions). Besides, even if the source is available, if "./configure & make && make install" fails most users would not know what to do, unless the error message told them to install some package and that package did not conflict with a (newer) package already on the system.

All the stuff that is on a good 90%+ of PCs. You can tell it custom paths if you want it to check software it doesn't normally check but all the stuff most people have that isn't done by Windows Update, your Java and Flash, your third party browsers (although Dragon autoupdates so you don't need the Hippo for that) and most of the mundane everyday software like VLC or messenger, I'd say a good 90% of my customers FileHippo covers all the software they install and use.

BTW you want to save even more time you can use Ninite to not only do first installs but to also update the systems. just tell 'em to check the boxes on the stuff they use and hit run, that's it. No toolbars or other crap, no getting a bunch of dumb questions asked, its a fully automated install and that page covers most of the software your average user is running, from iTunes to .NET.

Steam service runs as Local System which does have some restrictions, while the client itself runs under my user account and would be subject to UAC if I had it turned on. I run my home systems for my convenience, so easy driver updates or all in one programs like http://www.ninite.com/ appeal to me. The places I contract to I never see Steam installed and haven't ever had to worry about it, except to want a better distribution network for my packages. ;) - HEX

here you go
http://ninite.com/chrome-firefox-flash-flashie-java-opera-safari/

yah i included Flash and java for you

Well when you are running a little shop like mine having to constantly redownload the damned patches ends up hurting my bottom line and with WSUS I can just keep ALL the patches and ALL the SPs and ALL the Office and .NET patches on a share drive on this little Sempron 1.8GHz a customer traded in years ago (makes a GREAT nettop, only uses around 35w under load) and like I said, run it once a month, I usually wait until the Friday after Patch Tuesday for the WSUS Offline guys to have time to update their scripts, and its ALL done. And since its just using a WGET straight from the MSFT servers (It'll even pop up a CMD window so you can watch if you like, its all pretty standard WGET scripts calling the standard MSFT update servers) there is no risk of a MITM or getting a piece of malware stuck in there, you even get the choice of whether you want to include WGA or not in the builds.

But between WSUS Offline and Ninite for the third party stuff I've been able to cut a new build down to less than an hour and a half and even better I am needed less than 10 minutes of that hour and a half since its all unattended. I don't have to deal with slipstreaming and making new discs, don't have to deal with constantly checking to make sure I've got the latest software, frankly ALL the bullshit and hassle is done FOR me with nothing harder than "clicky clicky, go make a sammich" on my end. Its nice. Oh and if you have an older machine you need to check the third party software on just run Update Checker after you've updated the system with WSUS and it'll tell you if ANY of the third party stuff is out of date, and give you handy little links with direct downloads of the software that's out.

So like I said any questions just let me know in a later post or you can shoot me an email at the address in my UID, I usually check it once a day. And I have a feeling you'll be like me and damned glad you have WSUS in your toolbox, really takes the bullshit and pain out of dealing with Windows Updates. Kinda sad you need a third party tool to do this, but let's face it APK, MSFT first party tools have always sucked ass. if you want anything done right you pretty much HAVE to go third party, as MSFT either tries to force you to a higher SKU or simply half asses the design, they really suck at building decent tools for their OSes.

There is a MUCH easier way to update all your third party stuff friend, frankly there is also a much easier way to install it in the first place as well. For the initial install just go to Ninite and check what you need, oh and no toolbars or forced Chrome install either, while if you have a system you just need to check updates for use Update Checker which will scan the system and pop up the browser with a list of anything that is out of date, you can even choose to have it show you beta releases if you'd like to be cutting edge.

So there really is no point in doing things the old way friend, BTW check my previous post for a link to WSUS Offline which will let you install all the Windows patches just as easy and unattended.

Let old Hairy fix that problem right up...blam! there ya go, no charge. hell I'll even be nice and take care of the third party stuff most folks want...slam!. Just use these two and go make you a sammich while they run, totally unattended, no muss, no fuss, and with WSUS Offline you can even have it apply the updates for MS Office and .NET while its at it. I keep WSUS on a network drive at the shop, it has every SP and update for every version of Windows from XP - Win 7 X64, while I'm installing the OS I just tell WSUS to drop the latest patches and SP along with .NET into a folder labeled for that OS and its ready to run by the time I hear the Windows chime, couldn't be simpler. you can even have it put the updates onto a thumbstick or DVD if you need to do it somewhere where else, easy peasy friend.

http://ninite.com/.net-air-flash-flashie-java-shockwave-silverlight/

no mess no fuss just run and hit NEXT

and just for fun you could help folks choose by using http://ninite.com/.net-7zip-air-chrome-firefox-flash-flashie-foxit-java-opera-pdfcreator-reader-safari-shockwave-silverlight/

to preload Chrome FireFox Opera and Safari (plus a buncha other stuff)

btw this does solve the problem of how to install another web browser without using MSIE very nicely (the link gives you a download to do the install)