Applications; Portable vs. Installed

[jmoore]

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

From a CEO / owner perspective, this is a huge security risk having a system admin that is willing to act this way, as you can imagine. Put yourself in the CEO's shoes... you task HR with keeping employees happy, and one lone rogue actor in IT decides that he doesn't appreciate the CEO and HR's decisions and takes it on himself to punish employees. OMG!!!

i agree totally. All these things you have mentioned have been the foundations of my complaints for years now. I just didn't voice them. I also agree it looks bad on me that I have stayed so long. I kept hoping I would be rewarded for loyalty and putting up with things. Bad logic, I know.

[jmoore]

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

his employers know nothing of IT at any level, and if he learned to react to every word out of their mouths as gibberish, and then researched to find out what is true, he'd move a lot faster

Yes i do take everything with a grain of salt. I was originally told we did not have a way to scan for rogue apps on our systems. Yet, I found a way to do it through wmic in powershell. I found that incredulous so researched it myself at home and found a solution quickly. After I presented it, she just said "good for you" and nothing more said of it.

[jmoore]

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

The temptation to try to rationalize our employers and assume that they are somehow acting correctly in a way we can't quite explain is dangerous, because rarely is that true but we can mislead ourselves dramatically if we are not careful.

I agree and I am as guilty of this as anyone, especially in the past when I had less experience. As I gain experience I am learning to evaluate things better little by little.

[jmoore]

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

Right, but does HR know that your manager is a rogue security risk in the org actively working to undermine the CEO and the organization as a whole?

Well the highest HR position is called a director of HR and lower than our VP of IT so she powerless in that situation. I disagree with this model entirely also, our VP's have too much power over other departments.

[IRJ]

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

Right, but does HR know that your manager is a rogue security risk in the org actively working to undermine the CEO and the organization as a whole?

Well the highest HR position is called a director of HR and lower than our VP of IT so she powerless in that situation. I disagree with this model entirely also, our VP's have too much power over other departments.

HR should have dominion over all including CEO.

[IRJ]

Not making business decisions of course, but when it comes to human resources side. Nobody is immune

[marcinozga]

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

[jmoore]

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Not approved here. However i can use powershell all I want.

[marcinozga]

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Not approved here. However i can use powershell all I want.

What? You have java, flash, silverlight, quicktime and adobe reader approved but configuration management tools are not? Wtf?

[jmoore]

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Not approved here. However i can use powershell all I want.

What? You have java, flash, silverlight, quicktime and adobe reader approved but configuration management tools are not? Wtf?

lol, see that other thread about where Scott and I are discussing my work. That should explain things.

[gjacobse]

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Ansible - I've heard of it,.. likely read a little about it,.. but in my State Gov environment - not likely permitted. PS - yes.

that said, this thread is more of a personal nature, could I learn Ansible... maybe. It becomes a point of how many hours in the day are there to do yet one more thing. I just don't have the time - not to mention - I've never gotten into some of the more serious scripting - especially PS.

[gjacobse]

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Ansible - I've heard of it,.. likely read a little about it,.. but in my State Gov environment - not likely permitted. PS - yes.

that said, this thread is more of a personal nature, could I learn Ansible... maybe. It becomes a point of how many hours in the day are there to do yet one more thing. I just don't have the time - not to mention - I've never gotten into some of the more serious scripting - especially PS.

Oh - and there is the - I'm only dealing with my computers,.. so is Ansible really worth it? Do I know what's involved in getting Ansible running - no - but I can read. And I likely will do some. But if it needs a server - then no. it's is definitely not worth it for me personally.

[marcinozga]

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Ansible - I've heard of it,.. likely read a little about it,.. but in my State Gov environment - not likely permitted. PS - yes.

that said, this thread is more of a personal nature, could I learn Ansible... maybe. It becomes a point of how many hours in the day are there to do yet one more thing. I just don't have the time - not to mention - I've never gotten into some of the more serious scripting - especially PS.

Ansible for example allows you to skip scripting step, its syntax is just yaml. I believe Salt is the same. Chef and Puppet are much harder to learn.

[marcinozga]

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Ansible - I've heard of it,.. likely read a little about it,.. but in my State Gov environment - not likely permitted. PS - yes.

that said, this thread is more of a personal nature, could I learn Ansible... maybe. It becomes a point of how many hours in the day are there to do yet one more thing. I just don't have the time - not to mention - I've never gotten into some of the more serious scripting - especially PS.

Oh - and there is the - I'm only dealing with my computers,.. so is Ansible really worth it? Do I know what's involved in getting Ansible running - no - but I can read. And I likely will do some. But if it needs a server - then no. it's is definitely not worth it for me personally.

Yes, it is worth learning even just to manage single computer. Say you pc dies, once you reload OS, you'll most likely spend hours installing software and configuring it to your liking. Ansible will allow you to fire up one command, and when it's done, your pc will be where you want it to be.

[gjacobse]

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Ansible - I've heard of it,.. likely read a little about it,.. but in my State Gov environment - not likely permitted. PS - yes.

that said, this thread is more of a personal nature, could I learn Ansible... maybe. It becomes a point of how many hours in the day are there to do yet one more thing. I just don't have the time - not to mention - I've never gotten into some of the more serious scripting - especially PS.

Ansible for example allows you to skip scripting step, its syntax is just yaml. I believe Salt is the same. Chef and Puppet are much harder to learn.

Things I know about;

• yaml - no
• Chef - no
• Puppet - no
• simple batch - yes
• powershell - simple things - yes

Again - here it boils down to - these are things I just don't have the time to invest into

[gjacobse]

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Ansible - I've heard of it,.. likely read a little about it,.. but in my State Gov environment - not likely permitted. PS - yes.

that said, this thread is more of a personal nature, could I learn Ansible... maybe. It becomes a point of how many hours in the day are there to do yet one more thing. I just don't have the time - not to mention - I've never gotten into some of the more serious scripting - especially PS.

Oh - and there is the - I'm only dealing with my computers,.. so is Ansible really worth it? Do I know what's involved in getting Ansible running - no - but I can read. And I likely will do some. But if it needs a server - then no. it's is definitely not worth it for me personally.

Yes, it is worth learning even just to manage single computer. Say you pc dies, once you reload OS, you'll most likely spend hours installing software and configuring it to your liking. Ansible will allow you to fire up one command, and when it's done, your pc will be where you want it to be.

I do that with Chocolatey - once the agent is install, I run one simple batch file, and 20 programs are installed. I started it on the replacement PC and walked away - came back three hours later since I was tied up doing other things - with it waiting for me to move on.

[marcinozga]

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@marcinozga said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@gjacobse said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

One thing I found about portable apps is occasionally a smarter user will install these. Yeah, it gets around our permissions in Ad because they do not modify the registry. so I do not like them for that reason. I can't have users installing whatever they want.

Something else you can do to make chocolatey easier to install in multiple places is use an xml file with the apps you want for yourself or for departments. I made one for myself but I really don't use it, however I have one for a few different departments here because they some specific things and its hard to remember the install names on each. So I just carry them around on a flash drive.

I'm curious on how you set this up,.. I know I have just been using a simple batch file once the core is installed.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
    <packages>
      <package id="googlechrome" />
	  <package id="firefoxesr" />
	  <package id="flashplayerplugin" />
	  <package id="adobereader" />
	  <package id="jre8" />
	  <package id="7zip.install" />
	  <package id="vlc" />
	  <package id="powershell" />
	  <package id="silverlight" />
	  <package id="quicktime" />
	  <package id="irfanview" />
	  <package id="treesizefree" />
	  <package id="windirstat" />
	  <package id="crystaldiskinfo" />
	  </packages>
</xml>

this file is called staff.config
Then i just use:

choco install d:\packages.config –y

I'll have to give that a try on my next build. neat way to address the install.

Why not utilize proper configuration management tool for that? Ansible for example works very well with Chocolatey. The above approach might sound cool, but to me it's more of a stone age way.

Ansible - I've heard of it,.. likely read a little about it,.. but in my State Gov environment - not likely permitted. PS - yes.

that said, this thread is more of a personal nature, could I learn Ansible... maybe. It becomes a point of how many hours in the day are there to do yet one more thing. I just don't have the time - not to mention - I've never gotten into some of the more serious scripting - especially PS.

Ansible for example allows you to skip scripting step, its syntax is just yaml. I believe Salt is the same. Chef and Puppet are much harder to learn.

Things I know about;

• yaml - no
• Chef - no
• Puppet - no
• simple batch - yes
• powershell - simple things - yes

Again - here it boils down to - these are things I just don't have the time to invest into

Let me show you simple playbook

---
- hosts: intel
  tasks:
  - name: Install software
    win_chocolatey:
      name: "{{ item }}"
      state: latest
      ignore_checksums: yes
      force: yes
    with_items:
      - intel-dsa
      - intel-network-drivers-win10
      - intel-rst-driver
      - intel-proset-drivers
      - intel-me-drivers
      - intel-graphics-driver
    failed_when: no
    tags: intel

- hosts: dell
  tasks:
  - name: Install software
    win_chocolatey:
      name: dell-update
      state: latest
    failed_when: no
    tags: dell

- hosts: nvidia
  tasks:
  - name: Install software
    win_chocolatey:
      name: "{{ item }}"
      state: latest
    with_items:
      - gforce-game-ready-driver
      - disable-nvidia-telemetry
      - geforce-experience
    failed_when: no
    tags: nvidia

That's yaml, simple key: value pairs. And there's so much more you can do that way, not just installing software.

[stacksofplates]

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

A big question would be... why do you want to restrict binaries from users?

Thats the sysadmin decision. He considers it a security measure and I can understand it somewhat.

Does he? Because he's not restricting them in any way, and totally okay with all the portable apps delivered in the web browser, right? So he's totally okay with them. Just confused, I'd guess.

Well, I can't presume to know his mind but hes just trying to limit the damage that can be done i suppose. I am guessing that is what he is thinking.

Is this from a government requirement? The only way to do this is checksum all of your executables. Unless you are required to do this, you're insane.

[stacksofplates]

As has been mentioned I'm sure above (I didn't read everything). The users can create scripts which would count as portable apps and run them. This really is not a road you want to go down unless you are forced to.

[jmoore]

@stacksofplates said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@jmoore said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

@scottalanmiller said in Applications; Portable vs. Installed:

A big question would be... why do you want to restrict binaries from users?

Thats the sysadmin decision. He considers it a security measure and I can understand it somewhat.

Does he? Because he's not restricting them in any way, and totally okay with all the portable apps delivered in the web browser, right? So he's totally okay with them. Just confused, I'd guess.

Well, I can't presume to know his mind but hes just trying to limit the damage that can be done i suppose. I am guessing that is what he is thinking.

Is this from a government requirement? The only way to do this is checksum all of your executables. Unless you are required to do this, you're insane.

Yes we are a 2 year college and this is what I am told.