No more free ninite pro..

[bdoggman]

Been using this for years wont work anymore for some reason. Don't get me wrong I would pay for the full version but they want a yearly subscription. Kinda like microscam does with office now. Im just old school, I will only pay for software once. patch my pc seems decent.. Any recommendations

Admin: Post has been edited. Ninite Pro is classed as software as a service. From memory there has not been a free professional version for many a year, if at all. There is a free personal version. But as a technician, you should be opting for the professional version.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Pay for the service. It's not software, it is a service. Just like antivirus. The downloads change their URLs all the time and they constantly have to pay people to update it and the overhead for the Ninite servers to update your EXE on the fly.

 

[Archon Prime]

I just downloaded and ran Patch My PC. decent, easy to use. It didn't blow up my computer either, so that works. ninite is alright too, but this worked well. I even selected apps I didn't have installed and worked well.

 

[timeshifter]

I wasn't aware of any free Pro version of Ninite. I've been paying $20 / month for many years, so you won't get a lot of sympathy from me. Jealously, but not sympathy.

 

[fencepost]

Huh, now Ninite doesn't even have pricing info on the site, just "contact our sales people for a quote." I know that they used to have the subscription = unlimited endpoints, is that the $20/month? Did they have an older one-time-payment option?

For alternatives I've never heard of Patch My PC, but I have seen discussions of Chocolatey as an option in the past. Whether it's worth it may depend on the number of endpoints you're dealing with and what kind of scripting options you have available.

edit: Interesting, Patch My PC might be interesting as an alternative to N-Able's Third Party Patching and cost less, but I'm not sure it'd be worth the savings unless you were serving thousands or tens of thousands of endpoints, and by that level I suspect the Solarwinds pricing would drop. Looking at their list of software I (failed to) see some things that would concern me - like Flash, Reader, etc. Maybe I'm just missing something....

 

[MCDIT]

Ninite hasn't been free for techs for a good while!

 

[GTP]

I used Secunia PSI (Personal Software Inspector) for many years. It worked ok. Might have another look at it.

Kabuto use Chocolatey for their patch management I think.
Patch My PC is included in the Windows Repair Toolbox.
For business I think you are required to get their SCUP program.
patchmypc.net/third-party-patch-management-scup-catalog

Edit: Just ran PatchMyPC on a test system. Worked fine. Great that it's a "portable" as well.
Surprising. No nags, adware, offers, anything. Just updated the 2 programs it said were out of date. Didn't leave any entries in the registry either.

 

[cypress]

I barely use Ninite anymore, and definitely not as much as I used to. I been using PatchMyPC for awhile. Definitely one of my favorites and it can update so many programs and does it rather quickly. One of the last programs I run on a Virus Removal or Tune Up.

@Barcelona you are correct on Kabuto using Chocolatey.

 

[seedubya]

Been using this for years wont work anymore for some reason. Don't get me wrong I would pay for the full version but they want a yearly subscription. Kinda like microscam does with office now. Im just old school, I will only pay for software once. patch my pc seems decent.. Any recommendations

Can't understand why your're referring to their service as a scam. It is a service after all, one that incurs ongoing costs for them and one that you should be charging out to your customers. "Old school" sounds like "cheap" to me, in this instance, or "unprofessional" even. Post reported to mods for possible legal implications of calling a perfectly legitimate service a scam.

 

[Kitten Kong]

OP has been edited. Business and Legal is in the public domain. Technibble as a forum does not want to have any legal ramifications for such a post / comment.

 

[HCHTech]

Yup. We all know free professional versions of anything calls into question the veracity of the claim.

 

[bdoggman]

lol.. well sorry if i hit a nerve with some people, please relax and don't go and tell the teacher its just my opinion . Subscription based software is a new business model compared to how company's use to do it "old school" where you just pay once for software and that's it. "Microsoft office for example" But now a days software company's seem "in my opinion" are getting greedy and are going more towards subscription based. Then they gripe about piracy "again only my opinion lol" I cant even begin to tell you how many of my customers are furious they have to pay a subscription for office, Im definitely not alone in my opinion.

 

[nlinecomputers]

lol.. well sorry if i hit a nerve with some people, please relax and don't go and tell the teacher its just my opinion . Subscription based software is a new business model compared to how company's use to do it "old school" where you just pay once for software and that's it. "Microsoft office for example" But now a days software company's seem "in my opinion" are getting greedy and are going more towards subscription based. Then they gripe about piracy "again only my opinion lol" I cant even begin to tell you how many of my customers are furious they have to pay a subscription for office, Im definitely not alone in my opinion.

I'm sorry. But that is BS.. It is a perfectly valid point on Office or Photoshop. Both are static programs that will work just fine even if the companies make newer versions with newer features. Don't want the new feature then don't upgrade. But Ninite is a service. When Adobe puts out a new version of Flash the download URL changes. A monkey somewhere has to figure that out and update the program and then the Ninite servers have to shove it out to your EXE. A static version of Ninite wouldn't be very useful, would it? Just like a two-year-old AV program that never got updated wouldn't protect you from a virus created 5 days ago. Next time my computer breaks I shouldn't have to pay you. After all, you got your money for removing my virus the first time. That is what you are saying.

 

[bdoggman]

I'm sorry. But that is b u l ls h i t. It is a perfectly valid point on Office or Photoshop. Both are static programs that will work just fine even if the companies make newer versions with newer features. Don't want the new feature then don't upgrade. But Ninite is a service. When Adobe puts out a new version of Flash the download URL changes. A monkey somewhere has to figure that out and update the program and then the Ninite servers have to shove it out to your EXE. A static version of Ninite wouldn't be very useful, would it? Just like a two-year-old AV program that never got updated wouldn't protect you from a virus created 5 days ago. Next time my computer breaks I shouldn't have to pay you. After all, you got your money for removing my virus the first time. That is what you are saying.

That's a valid point. Lol I guess I'm just a cheap a#$

 

[ajgyomber]

This has a lifetime option and appears to be a competitor to Ninite Pro:

https://shop.adlice.com/product/ucheck-premium-technician/

 

[timeshifter]

Most small business and residential computer users don't understand that Office is not free. They say things like "didn't my computer come with 'Microsoft'"? Arrggghhh.

 

[bdoggman]

This has a lifetime option and appears to be a competitor to Ninite Pro:

https://shop.adlice.com/product/ucheck-premium-technician/

thanks bro

 

[nlinecomputers]

And if adlice goes bankrupt tomorrow....

 

[bdoggman]

And if adlice goes bankrupt tomorrow....

Then I guess hopefully the Ninite crew would be smart enough to offer a lifetime price as well. Kinda like Malwarebytes does since there an antivirus.. so quoted earlier.. Come on software companies a little common sense goes a long way..

 

[pctechforhire]

Then I guess hopefully the Ninite crew would be smart enough to offer a lifetime price as well. Kinda like Malwarebytes does since there an antivirus.. so quoted earlier.. Come on software companies a little common sense goes a long way..

I seriously doubt that they would go out of business anytime soon anyway. And nlinecomputers, I agree, any monkey can update the latest version list. And looking at their list of updates, there are only 2-3 (on average) updates per day. THAT isn't their money maker for the pro version. It's all of the other services that Ninite Pro offers like being able to monitor updates remotely. Plus all of the other features. If maintaining a latest version list was all the Pro version needed, bdoggman would have a point. But, bdoggman, it's not all it does. I get what you're saying. But software as a service is here to stay and isn't going away anytime soon, if ever. And there are, truly, many good benefits to a pricing model like that. But, nlinecomputers, even with a SAAS pricing model, there is no guarantee that a business won't go bankrupt. No matter the pricing model, many variables have to be taken into account before deciding to select a particular vendor.