Reading "Add Remove Programs" data

25 Feb 2007 1:34 AM

J

I want to take a snapshot of various machines that I maintain. I thought if
I could read the installed programs I could tell if a new program was
installed.

I assume this information is in the registry but I do not know where. Can
anyone help me here?
thanks

25 Feb 2007 3:39 AM

mayayana

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

Anything that shows in Add/Remove will have a
DisplayName value. But those are only programs that
are "officially" installed.

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> I want to take a snapshot of various machines that I maintain. I thought
if
> I could read the installed programs I could tell if a new program was
> installed.
>
> I assume this information is in the registry but I do not know where. Can
> anyone help me here?
> thanks
>
>
>

25 Feb 2007 1:57 PM

J

Thank you. Also do you know if the items/key names in that section which
look like this:

{03B1B42B-F6DE-41d9-8CFF-DC44E895C7A7}

Are they dlls??
thanks

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"mayayana" <mayayan***@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:6y7Eh.5465$_73.4451@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
>
> Anything that shows in Add/Remove will have a
> DisplayName value. But those are only programs that
> are "officially" installed.
>
>> I want to take a snapshot of various machines that I maintain. I thought
> if
>> I could read the installed programs I could tell if a new program was
>> installed.
>>
>> I assume this information is in the registry but I do not know where.
>> Can
>> anyone help me here?
>> thanks
>>
>>
>>
>
>

25 Feb 2007 3:34 PM

mayayana

> Thank you. Also do you know if the items/key names in that section which
> look like this:
>
> {03B1B42B-F6DE-41d9-8CFF-DC44E895C7A7}
>
> Are they dlls??

No. Those are programs installed with Windows
Installer. (.MSI files.)
What you see is a "class ID", (CLSID) or "universually
unique ID" (UUID). Microsoft has become CLSID-crazed
in recent years and uses them to substitute for clear,
human-readable identifiers wherever possible. The format
is a special formulation, intended to be a guaranteed unique
string, with the added benefit of providing an intimidating
obfuscation to the uninitiated. (Or maybe it's vice versa. :)

So while most installers create an Uninstall subkey with
the program name, MSI installers create a subkey with
a CLSID name.

26 Feb 2007 2:20 AM

J

I suppose Microsoft's justification might be that 2 or more people might
give their program the same name.
Anyway thanks again.

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"mayayana" <mayayan***@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:00iEh.6366$Jl.2522@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
>> Thank you. Also do you know if the items/key names in that section which
>> look like this:
>>
>> {03B1B42B-F6DE-41d9-8CFF-DC44E895C7A7}
>>
>> Are they dlls??
>
> No. Those are programs installed with Windows
> Installer. (.MSI files.)
> What you see is a "class ID", (CLSID) or "universually
> unique ID" (UUID). Microsoft has become CLSID-crazed
> in recent years and uses them to substitute for clear,
> human-readable identifiers wherever possible. The format
> is a special formulation, intended to be a guaranteed unique
> string, with the added benefit of providing an intimidating
> obfuscation to the uninitiated. (Or maybe it's vice versa. :)
>
> So while most installers create an Uninstall subkey with
> the program name, MSI installers create a subkey with
> a CLSID name.
>
>