Installing DVD/CD based software to a netbook

[silvermusic]

I'm about to splash out on a new netbook, haven't decided which one yet, but I'm wondering how you get on with installing software you buy off the shelf on CD/DVD, in particular something like MS Office, Norton, etc.

I know the obvious answer would be to buy an external DVD drive, but spending out another £30-£40 or more seems a waste as it'll probably never get used after installation. It is possible to copy these sorts of installation CD/DVDs on my main PC to something like a large USB stick and then install them on the netbook from those? Failing that, is it possible to use the DVD drive on my main PC as some kind of network drive and install programs that way? Must admit networks are not a strong point of mine.

[KM-Tiger]

Yes, you can share a CD/DVD drive across a network, or indeed copy the CD to a USB stick.

[SneakSMS]

You could create an image of the disk on one computer, transfer via usb and use image on netbook?

http://www.magiciso.com/ should let you do that if you don't have luck networking the drives

[That Guy]

I just copy cd to USB stick. Works fine :)

[silvermusic]

Thanks for all your help, it's not as difficult as I thought it might be esspecially with Office, unlike some older installation routines that look for a CD in the drive, it seems modern one's don't. found this useful site today as well...

http://news.office-watch.com/t/n.aspx?articleid=904&zoneid=9

I've also noticed that some netbooks have a 60 day trial of Office already installed, so upgrading that to a full version is even easier buy buying a key online from MS.

Now for the hard bit in trying to decide which one to get, there's too many out there. :)