Patent ID: 8473607

Claim:
A method, comprising: in a network of computers that are in communication with a server, collecting information, at a given client computer, about executables installed on the given computer, by; utilizing the collected information and generating one or more software items for each executable, wherein each software item includes an indication as to when the executable was last used and each software item includes a method of last use indicating a technique utilized to determine when the executable was last used, and wherein each software item includes one or more of the following: 1. file name, 2. directory, 3. date and time the executable was last started, 4. security identifier of the last user, 5. whether the executable was found to be running at the time it was found, and 6. whether the executable is registered and run as a service; recording the one or more software items in a list containing usage data for the executables found on the given computer; if only one software item is generated for a given executable, including the one software item as part of computer profile data for the given computer; if multiple software items are generated for the given executable, merging the multiple software items associated with the given executable as the single item and including the single item as part of the computer profile data for the given computer; and storing the computer profile data in an associated database; and producing reports about the executables, software programs comprised of the executables, or both, from the computer profile data stored in the database.