Scan computer for applications

[Doxie]

Hi,

I now got a new assigment from my boss.

We need to track all our application that require a license.

My idea is to make a au3 script that i add to the login script.

Wich will at logon scan the users computer for specific files.

But then i realized that it might not be that smart.

Cause if we have for example 20 apps that need to be checked, it will

take up alot of system time, and interupting the users work. (Even if we are talking about a minute or two.) Our IT department is trying to be as transparant as possible. Things should just work.

So my question is now, would a regscan be "smoother" for the system?

Or is there any other way, i can check it.

One idea, is that it only search for one or two apps per login.

But that would result in alot more programming.

Thanks in advance

EDIT:

It is possible to access remote registries by using a keyname in the form "\\computername\keyname". To use this feature you must have the correct access rights on NT/2000/XP/2003,

Would this work with local admin account?

If so, i can make a list with all computer names, and send out a ping if respond then make the search. Right?

Edited December 20, 2004 by Doxie

[sugi]

I'd suggest scanning teh registry on startup but starting the scan so that the usual logon continues during that time. This means you'll only use one or two seconds at all.

For scanning I suggest HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall as most apps create an entry there.

If you want to do a one time scan only of course you can use remote registry access. Your user account needs to have admin access to the computer or you have to use DriveMapAdd to logon to the computer first with an admin account.

[sykes]

Hi,

I now got a new assigment from my boss.

We need to track all our application that require a license.

My idea is to make a au3 script that i add to the login script.

Wich will at logon scan the users computer for specific files.

But then i realized that it might not be that smart.

Cause if we have for example 20 apps that need to be checked, it will

take up alot of system time, and interupting the users work. (Even if we are talking about a minute or two.) Our IT department is trying to be as transparant as possible. Things should just work.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The actual scanning of specific apps wouldn't take very long at all. Here's a quick script that scans and returns the contents of the Program Files directory into a results.txt. Depending on what you are looking for exactly, it could be even faster that mine ran.

Directory names returned: 74

Time: 0.862

$search = FileFindFirstFile(@ProgramFilesDir & "\*.*")  

If $search = -1 Then
    Exit
EndIf

While 1
    $file = FileFindNextFile($search) 
    If @error Then ExitLoop
       If not StringInStr($file, ".")Then
          FileWriteLine("Results.txt", $file & @CRLF)
    EndIf
WEnd

FileClose($search)

*Note* This was taken directly from the example in the help file under "FileFindFirstFile"