how to see whats installing on your computer
How practice I get a listing of all installed programs and applications on my car? Information is all scattered and disruptive.
If y'all're looking for a complete list, the reply is simple: you don't. "Scattered and disruptive" doesn't even begin to comprehend it.
However, if you'll settle for virtually of what'due south installed on your car, you can become pretty close.
In that location's no standard
As surprising equally this might be, there is no standard way to install an awarding on a Windows machine. There's supposed to be, but the reality is that doing it right requires actress and oftentimes complex work. Many application vendors simply don't carp, and do things their own way.
As a result, there'south no central repository of information about what's on your car.
Instead, nosotros demand to wait in a few standard and semi-standard places.
Settings, Apps & features
In Windows Settings, go to the Apps & features page.
Curl down, and you'll go a fairly comprehensive listing of the applications installed on your machine.
In a perfect world, that list would be enough. Simply this is far from a perfect globe.
Start carte du jour
Click your Kickoff menu, and yous'll become a long listing of installed programs.
Whorl through to view the complete listing; be sure to examine any sub-folders that appear as well.
Applications that don't follow the rules to install properly into Apps & features, to a higher place, may install into the Showtime carte du jour. This is as well often where they'll put their custom uninstall link.
This serves as an additional listing of applications installed on your machine.
C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86)
Additional locations to examine are the C:\Plan Files and C:\Program Files (x86) folders. These are the folders into which programs are nearly often installed past default.
Hither you'll meet a long list, ofttimes sorted past vendor proper name rather than program proper noun. You may need to look inside sub-folders to get a sense of what applications are nowadays.
In that location is 1 "gotcha" with this particular approach: uninstall. Many programs, when uninstalled, exit their subfolders here backside. Commonly the folder will be empty, or have very few files.
The PATH
Run a Windows Command Prompt, and type in "PATH" followed by Return to display the contents of the PATH environment variable.
This is a listing of folders on your auto where Windows looks when instructed to run a program. For example, if yous launch Notepad, Windows looks through these folders until it finds notepad.exe in C:\Windows\System32, and and then runs it.
My PATH list is quite long, and yours volition be quite dissimilar.
Some application installations similar to add things to the PATH, and then the list of folders may include additional clues as to what is installed on your automobile.
Ane problem hither is that Windows is in the PATH. That means you will find many .EXE files that are not installed programs at all; they're part of Windows itself.
The registry
I need to mention the registry for abyss, only I'd avoid it for this particular problem.
Many installed programs do place information into the registry. However, the better behaved ones volition have been found past the steps to a higher place, and the others — well, there'southward no telling where in the registry they may have placed their information, or fifty-fifty what it might look like.
Other places
In reality, a program could be installed anywhere on your hd, could place information anywhere in the registry (or not at all), and could store configuration files in your user directory, the Windows directory, or anywhere else information technology wants.
In short, an installed program doesn't have to follow any rules at all.
That's why tools like malware scanners don't fifty-fifty try to apply rules to locate what'southward installed on your auto; they simply scan the entire hard disk drive looking for problems.
Depending on how exhaustive you want to get, the first two or three ideas here — Apps & features, the Start card, and the Program Files folders — should go you lot 99% of what you lot're looking for.
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Source: https://askleo.com/whats-installed-on-your-machine/
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