Patent ID: 8261253

Claim:
An automated method for restoring software applications previously installed on a desktop computer comprising the steps of: (A) storing information representing an inventory of the applications installed on the computer, said previously installed applications determined by applications present in said computer at a selected point in time prior to the restoring process, said inventory stored in a local file located in the computer, the applications each further comprising an application wrapper that includes a header command to identify each of the installed applications; (B) generating and maintaining a library of known software applications comprising said previously installed applications including providing restoration rules imposed by an administrator for said software applications including an allowed restoration version for a respective application; (C) receiving a request to restore one or more of said previously installed applications on the computer, said restoring comprising determining said previously installed applications by reading said inventory from said local file and replacing said previously installed applications with a corresponding previously installed version or later version from said library according to said imposed restoration rules; and, (D) restoring those applications in the stored inventory that are present in the library according to an automated process, said automated process comprising steps (C) and (D).