Hi all,
I hope this is ok to post here. I'm building a new image and was wondering what useful software/tools you guys include in addition to all the standard software installed on your images.
:)
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Hi all,
I hope this is ok to post here. I'm building a new image and was wondering what useful software/tools you guys include in addition to all the standard software installed on your images.
:)
BG Info :
BgInfo
A media player that supports more codecs than the normal windows media player ie media player home cinema / VLC or the likes
Maybe something like ultra defrag - not sure ??
Would be good to see what other people include though :)
A must have for a domain machine image,
RSAT - Remote Server Administration Tools
Adobe Flash Player
Plenty on here :)
The Essential Software List - Wiki
Nothing! :)
All applications are deployed separately from the OS
Linux ?? LolQuote:
Originally Posted by Arthur
By default we have
Office
Anti Virus
Flash
Java
Adobe Reader
VLC
Shockwave
And then a few of our own applications that have to be on.
Check the terms with regards to free software when installing, it maybe free at home but not in the corporate environment.
One to add to the list that has caught me out...
I cannot open Help files that require the Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) program
Some older programmes we have installed use Winhelp which is no longer included in Vista and Win7. An example for us is 2D Design. The above KB gives you an link to a .msu which you can inject into WDS.
Pete
I've been looking for this thread or one like it all day - hurray. I'm about to do the same thing.
In addition to the suggestions above, I am including:
Audacity
Scratch
QuickMark (and .NET)
There's also a handy website called Ninite which allows you to select various freeware utility programmes and automates the installation for you. Though I've not used it yet, someone recommended it on another thread.
Are you serious? You would have Group Policy Management, Active Directory Users and Computers, Sites and Services, and their ilk installed on a base image? Even having users appropriately locked down, that still sounds like a bad idea to me. :eek:Quote:
Originally Posted by djwingfield
If you're making a base image, it should contain software common to the entire user base you're looking to deploy the image to. If you start adding software to it that only a select few will use you're bloating your image up. Trust me, keep it lean and universal. For software that isn't universally used I package up into MSI files and push it out through AD. For a 1500 user base I maintain four images - a Windows 2k base image, an XP, Win7 x32, and Win7 x64. By this time next year I'll probably only be maintaining Win7 64 and XP for a handful of legacy machines.
Software I'd recommend to include:
Adobe Flash
Adobe Shockwave
Adobe Air
Java
VLC
CutePDF (or any other open source PDF printer)
MS Office
MS Silver Light
Front Motion Firefox (GPO controlled Firefox)
7-Zip file archiver
Quicktime
Infra Recorder (open source CD/DVD burning software)
Anti-Virus
Lots of the above software comes with bundled auto update utilities. Since I use the same image for students and staff I disable these features and anything that might nag the user. Java, Adobe players, and FM Firefox updates are extremely easy to push out over AD.
It's also a good idea to keep a text file somewhere in image that you can use as a change log to keep track of changes you've made to the image. It'll give you an idea of how old an image is in the wild.
Good luck! :thumb:
I'd leave the web filth out of the image and use their MSI's given that there is an update every other week to correct one or more gapeing holes in each of them. It will save you a bunch of time in the long run.Quote:
Originally Posted by Duke5A
Why do people add things like Adobe Reader, Flash Player, Air, Java & QuickTime to their images? Considering how often they are updated it doesn't make a lot of sense (as Synack mentioned). :confused:
Let's say your image includes Flash Player v10.2.159.1 and then Adobe release v10.3.181.14 a few days later, now your image is out of date. I imagine most people won't update their images that often, so you usually end up deploying the latest MSI. In that case, why not just do that in the first place and leave Flash Player out of the image?
Windows. :) Approx. ~95% of our applications are MSIs (mostly repackaged by me).Quote:
Originally Posted by mac_shinobi
We have Flash and Java as or online learning environment for staff need them and our clinical system is Java based. As for Adobe Reader I would prefer FoxIt but they won't and we need it.
Would never let QuickTime on a machine, VLC all the way.
Flash Player and Java are both available as MSIs though.Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewL
I would do the same if it wasn't for some educational software requiring QuickTime. :( We use VLC as the default media player though.Quote:
Originally Posted by MatthewL