"As I write this, I’ve just installed Windows 7 on my development/presentation laptop, and it’s currently installing a bunch of apps using the Web Platform Installer. If you haven’t tried this tool, you should definitely check it out. It’s free and easy to use and available here. Basically, instead of hunting around in 15 different places online and on your various CDs or DVDs to install your basic dev platform tools (web server, frameworks, SDKs, etc.), you just check a few boxes in the installer and it downloads and installs everything for you without the need for further interaction."