At work I have a range of admin tools that I install on every new workstation that I get and after 10 and more years of clicking next and watching progress bars I think I would like to reduce the number of times I have to install stuff.

It’s counter productive to spend 2 days on and off re-installing software that you only use once in a blue moon.

So heres one vote for creating an IT Tools Virtual Image. In it you stash your esoteric administration utilities. For example that PLC software or Phone System config utility that is critical but not in everyday usage.

The Virtual Machine sits there ready for when you need it, but it isn’t cluttering up your every-day workstation which can be dedicated to Twitter, Google+, Facebook (if you’re into that sort of thing).

You can then move the Virtual Machine from Workstation to (new) Workstation and the upgrade process becomes less tedious and takes less time.

You can use Windows Virtual PC or VMWare Player or if you’re into Linux any number of options (VirtualBox, VMWare, Xen, KVM etc) to create your virtual machine.