Detect if a new program has been installed?

[LaNiZ]

Hello! I've been trying to detect if any new programs 'has been/is being' installed and get basic stats about the program (such as Name, Path to Exe and date of installation).

I tried to capture processes and see if any "setup.exe" was there. it worked But: It can only detect an installation being installed but it can not find the path or the name or anything about the installation..

So my question is: is it possible to detect a newly added program and maybe add the info about it to a list (Registry or .INI file)?

(one way would to be able to read the list of installed programs from Windows "Add and Remove Programs" List.. but i can't find a way to read it =/ ).

Thank you in advance.

Edited December 13, 2009 by LaNiZ

[martin]

Hello! I've been trying to detect if any new programs 'has been/is being' installed and get basic stats about the program (such as Name, Path to Exe and date of installation).

I tried to capture processes and see if any "setup.exe" was there. it worked But: It can only detect an installation being installed but it can not find the path or the name or anything about the installation..

So my question is: is it possible to detect a newly added program and maybe add the info about it to a list (Registry or .INI file)?

(one way would to be able to read the list of installed programs from Windows "Add and Remove Programs" List.. but i can't find a way to read it =/ ).

Thank you in advance.

I don't know about a lot of that but for the registry entries of apps which allow uninstallating (as all apps should) then this information might help.

Key = HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AppNameorCompany value name = "DisplayName", Type = "REG_SZ", value = ProgramName

Key = HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AppNameorCompany value name = "UninstallString", Type = "REG_SZ", value = FullPathToUninstaller

Key = HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AppNameorCompany value name = "DisplayIcon", Type = "REG_SZ", value = FullPathToIcon

;If both NoModify and NoRepair are set to 1, the button (in Windows Add/Remove programs) displays "Remove" instead of "Modify/Remove".

Key = HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AppNameorCompany value name = "NoModify", Type = "REG_DWORD",value = 0 or 1)

Key = HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\AppNameorCompany value name = "NoRepair", Type = "REG_DWORD",value = 0 or 1)

I know these work for XP and Vista.