Computer Question . . .

[Monazwx]

Is there a way to find out when a particular program was installed?

(Thanks in advance.)

 

[thecharlieman]

Assuming you are running a windows computer, try this:

dbl click on "my computer". when that opens up, right click on "explore". In the left plane, click on the + next to "program files". right click on the program in question and select "properties". In the window that opens, select the general tab, and midway down you should see when it was created....usually means the install date, along with when it was last modified.


hope this helps.

 

[rthnck]

I think for Windows you are out of luck. You can make some educated guesses by looking at the file dates where the app is installed or looking for some kind of install log which has the date and time either on the file or within the file itself. If we're looking at malware or viruses the date the file was modified is the only clue.

Open up an explorer window, navigate to where the app is installed. Click the button to reveal details. Then sort by "date modified". Look at the oldest date and work your way up the list. It's usually pretty obvious when the files were placed on the computer.

For example, I looked in Program Files at Firefox and found that there was an install.log with the date I upgraded firefox to the latest version. The dates that came before the install.log date were set by the Mozilla developers.

It's only an educated guess but it's pretty close. In this case, it's exact.

 

[bighornedsatyr]

Is there a way to find out when a particular program was installed?

(Thanks in advance.)

I'm assuming you're using Windows.

Nothing simple, or certain to work. The Add/Remove Programs Control Panel will show you the date the program was last used, which might be useful. If you can find the actual program executable file, you can get the date the program was created, which obviously would be before installation. (Also most programs have an About field in the Help menu that often gives creation dates.)

The best way I can come up with is to check out the icons in the start menu. If the program has a shortcut in the start menu, right click on it, choose properties and see the date the shortcut was created. That should give you the date the program was installed.

I won't guarantee it will work, (especially if you want to know when a new version of a previously existing program was installed), but it seems to work in most cases on my computer.

 

[bighornedsatyr]

dbl click on "my computer". when that opens up, right click on "explore". In the left plane, click on the + next to "program files". right click on the program in question and select "properties". In the window that opens, select the general tab, and midway down you should see when it was created....usually means the install date, along with when it was last modified.

The creation date for the program is actually the compilation date. For example, for a program I installed a little over a week ago, the modification date and the creation date are June of last year. The creation date of the shortcut in the start menu matches the installation date though.

 

[thecharlieman]

The creation date for the program is actually the compilation date. For example, for a program I installed a little over a week ago, the modification date and the creation date are June of last year. The creation date of the shortcut in the start menu matches the installation date though.

true enough. I was going on the idea that SOME of us don't like a lot of icons on our DT.

me, i usually del or file them in a special folder, especially if it's a program that self opens like acroreader. otherwise i'll use the start>all programs>*** if it's not one i will be constantly using.


as i am hosting a website on my box, the only time it gets shut down is when i need to do a restart after install or for physical maint.

 

[Weird Harold]

true enough. I was going on the idea that SOME of us don't like a lot of icons on our DT.

The entries in the Start menus are the same as the icons on the desktop -- i.e. ***.LNK files -- and you can get the creation and modification dates by right-clicking a menu entry and clicking properties.

You can also right-click the Start button and select Explore to view the folders that corespond to the Start Menu and submenus. In explorer, select View/Details to get a file listing that shows the modification dates of all files in the folder instead of pretty (useless) pictures.

The shorcut (*.LNK) file is the most likely to give you the date and time the progrm was installed, but it isn't absolutely accurate because the shortcut file doesn't always get rereated when a program is updated and the shorcut file has to be the one that was created by the installation and not one created later by turning on a "show icon" option.

 

[thecharlieman]

The entries in the Start menus are the same as the icons on the desktop -- i.e. ***.LNK files -- and you can get the creation and modification dates by right-clicking a menu entry and clicking properties.

You can also right-click the Start button and select Explore to view the folders that corespond to the Start Menu and submenus. In explorer, select View/Details to get a file listing that shows the modification dates of all files in the folder instead of pretty (useless) pictures.

The shorcut (*.LNK) file is the most likely to give you the date and time the progrm was installed, but it isn't absolutely accurate because the shortcut file doesn't always get rereated when a program is updated and the shorcut file has to be the one that was created by the installation and not one created later by turning on a "show icon" option.

thank you! I knew there had to be a better way.

 

[Monazwx]

Assuming you are running a windows computer, try this:

dbl click on "my computer". when that opens up, right click on "explore". In the left plane, click on the + next to "program files". right click on the program in question and select "properties". In the window that opens, select the general tab, and midway down you should see when it was created....usually means the install date, along with when it was last modified.


hope this helps.

It worked! It worked!
Thanks so much. (I have one day before this software expires, so I'm trying to get all of the work I need out tonight). Thanks everyone, you guys are life savers.
(WH, I know I can always count on you).

 

[thecharlieman]

pm me.

 

[Monazwx]

pm me.

Apparently the box is full, I'll clear it soon enough.
In the meantime, if it's urgent, you can e-mail me at alexaricha@yahoo.com

 

[thecharlieman]

not urgent, just wanted to ask you a few Q's