I am trying to find out when software was last used. It is my understanding that the OS keeps this information, but I have no idea how to get at it. Scripting would be ideal, as I have to do this on multiple machines across the network. I have tried researching this, but cannot find any info.
I have tried using the Last Accessed date of the executable file, but the second you check the date via scripting, the date changes, making it unreliable.
I am using this to determine who needs and uses what software, so I can remove what is unnecessary.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
How to determine when software was last used
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there is a windows installer option which counts the number of times an application has been used since installation.
this can be programatically pulled as well
have a look here.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\{guid}\Usage
this may even have the last access date its been a while since i last used it and cant remember.
the intention was that it would count the number of times an advertised entry point was accessed. unsure of the last access date bit of this although i think it would support this as well.
Last Accessed date of the executable file
dir "C:\Program Files\Folder\myfile.exe" /T:A
dir "C:\Program Files\Folder\myfile.exe" /T:A
I believe this info is stored in the ARP Cache at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache\<GUID>.
I’m not such what you can do with the bin values, but take a look at ARPCache Viewer – it might give you a clue on how to achieve what you want to do.
Cheers
Charlie
Unfortunately, you are correct. We are not using SMS. Used it at my last job, but we do not have it here. So, I have to find this out using some other methods. We are using Prism Deploy, but I cannot figure out how to use that to get the info either.
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