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Any tips for setting up a new Win7 laptop and installing lots of software fast?

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tomos:
^ Yeah, partitioning is a consideration (and you wanted tips to speed you up!).
I recently partitioned a Win 7 laptop using Aomei Partition Manager (I posted about it here somewhere but dont have time now to search).

SpoilerI went for:

C: OS
D: Data
E: a partition with space for two image backups of C partition

dr_andus:
^ Yeah, partitioning is a consideration (and you wanted tips to speed you up!).
-tomos (September 24, 2015, 03:39 AM)
--- End quote ---

Thanks for that!  :up:

Though what I meant by "fast" is that I will be installing 50+ software over a 48+ hr period. Some of them will prompt me for a reboot, by I was wondering if there is anything else to consider when intensively installing a lot of software, one after the other, all day long, for several days.

I will try to order them in a way that makes sense (install MS Office first, so that other apps that have Office add-ons, such as Dragon, EndNote, FineReader etc. have something to latch onto). Anything to consider beyond that, e.g. scheduling in regular (hourly) reboots? Will that make any difference for the long-term health of the PC?

40hz:
The more common free apps can be installed with a single installer available at ninite.com.

Pick the apps you want, let it assemble it all together for you, and you're all set. Download the small executable and sit back while it installs everything for you. Ninite also removes any add-ons the devs may have piggybacked with their software - and also opts you out of all those other things that tag along for the ride with freeware these days.

tomos:
Though what I meant by "fast" is that I will be installing 50+ software over a 48+ hr period. Some of them will prompt me for a reboot, by I was wondering if there is anything else to consider when intensively installing a lot of software, one after the other, all day long, for several days.
-dr_andus (September 24, 2015, 06:20 AM)
--- End quote ---

yeah, I got that :up:

My point was a bit off-topic, but important:
be sure that you are happy with your partitons *before* you do all that work of installing all that software.

MilesAhead:
This may come in handy:
Why Reboot

It can give an idea if an installer is asking for a reboot because it needs to install a driver or if it just wants to delete temp files in use during the install.

Also if you do Windows Update to catch up on everything I would thoroughly play around with the machine before going any further to make sure none of them broke anything. Once you feel confident then I would make an image as suggested.

Of course the more portable you can use the better.  Especially if all settings are in the same folder as the program and not under Program Files folders then you can just zip up or winrar to back up those programs.  I think there is a free program CloneApp also that backs up programs and settings including registry keys.

The portable suite NirLauncher has many useful utilities all in one zip file.

One cool thing I found with Macrium Reflect incremental backup is you can browse the images and if you double click the file dated when you want to return the system to, it will restore it to that state.  This makes backups very fast.  USB 3.0 sticks are coming down in price.  An easy way to store an incremental backup folder.

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