Patent ID: 8489616

Claim:
A computer implemented method of establishing the identity of software installed on a computer having a processor, the software being purportedly identified by identification data associated with the installed software, the method using a catalogue of established software identification data, the method comprising: mapping, by the processor, the purported identification data to established identification data in the catalogue having the form publisher name, product name and version identifier, the mapping including: processing the purported identification data to isolate portions of the purported identification data apparently respectively corresponding to a publisher name, comparing an isolated purported publisher name with words in a dictionary, weighting the name with a first weight if the name is not in the dictionary and with a second weight if the name is in the dictionary, and matching the purported publisher name to a publisher name in the catalogue in dependence on the weighting; using, in further processing by the processor, the identification data to which the purported data is mapped as the established identification data of the installed software; determining whether to uninstall identified software according to at least one predetermined un-installation criterion; and un-installing the software if the at least one criterion is satisfied.