Agent for collecting information about installed programs on a computer system

Abstract

A standard reporting schema to represent applications and other information on a computer in a hierarchical manner, such as via an XML (extensible markup language) file. An agent or engine is provided to inventory a computer for installed applications or services and to output a report, or log file, conforming to the schema standard. A calculation may be performed on a subset of attributes stored in the log file for an application or a service so as generate a signature representing the subset. The signature may be stored with the log file, and may be accessed quickly in a database to determine whether or not the application is a particular application, or, if more particular resources are defined, to determine more specific information, such as whether the application is a particular version or run of the application.

1 . A computer system, comprising: 
 an agent, the agent comprising: 
 an installed programs enumeration component configured to enumerate software items on the computer to find installed programs;  
 an executable enumeration component configured to enumerate software items on the computer to find executables that are associated with installed programs found by the installed programs enumeration component; and  
 an information grabber component configured to gather information on the computer about the installed programs found by the installed programs enumeration component.  
   
   
   
       2 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the information grabber component is further configured to gather information about the executables.  
   
   
       3 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the installed programs enumeration component utilizes places, tools, or devices that a user utilizes to access a program, or a subset thereof, to find installed programs on the computer.  
   
   
       4 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the agent searches a folder in which an installed program is found to find other executables that may be associated with the installed program.  
   
   
       5 . The computer system of  claim 4 , wherein, in the process of searching the folder, the agent determines, for items in the folder, whether the items are defined by the agent to be an executable.  
   
   
       6 . The computer system of  claim 5 , wherein the items are defined by the agent to be an executable by one of more of an evaluation of file type or an evaluation of an extension.  
   
   
       7 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein the installed programs and executables are stored in a file by the agent.  
   
   
       8 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the file is an extensible markup language file.  
   
   
       9 . The computer system of  claim 7 , wherein the file includes a hierarchical list having a number of installed programs containers, each installed programs container including an installed program and associated executables for the installed program.  
   
   
       10 . The computer system of  claim 1 , wherein associated executables are found via walking an import table for an installed program.  
   
   
       11 . A computer-implemented method, comprising: 
 enumerating software items on a computer to find installed programs; and    for each installed program, storing information about the installed program in a file along with information about executables linked to the installed program.    
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein enumerating software items comprises enumerating executables in a shell folder on the computer.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein enumerating executables in a shell folder comprises: 
 if a software item is a folder, recursing the folder;    if the software item is a link, getting the path and argument for the link; and    if the software item is a file, storing the information about the file.    
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein finding installed programs comprises utilizing places, tools, or devices that a user utilizes to access a program to find installed programs on the computer.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising searching a folder in which an installed program is found to find executables that may be associated with the installed program.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the file is an extensible markup language file.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the file includes a hierarchical list having a number of installed programs containers, each installed programs container including the installed program and the associated executables.  
   
   
       18 . A computer-implemented method, comprising: 
 utilizing places, tools, or devices that a user utilizes to access a program, or a subset thereof, to find installed programs on a computer; and    storing information about the installed programs in a file.    
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the file is an extensible markup language file.  
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the file includes a hierarchical list having a number of installed programs containers, each installed programs container including the installed program and executables associated with the installed program.