Wanted: tool to record programs used

“Matt”:http://photomatt.net/ has a “list of software”:http://photomatt.net/archives/2004/03/04/software/ he uses enough to consider indespensible. The comments make for interesting reading as well (I’ve found one or two more pieces to try).

My question is: is there any software out there that will build a list like this automatically for me? I guess by monitoring my system, and every time I run an @.exe@ file it increments the count for that program by 1 (no doubt you can think of a more sophisticated method). I’d find it interesting to see what I really do use a lot. The start menu on XP goes some way towards this, but isn’t enough - without resetting it I can’t see how my habits are different now.

3 comments ↓

#1 Julian on 03.08.04 at 6:38 pm

There’s a corporate tool called ‘Keyserver’:http://www.sassafras.com/default.html that does just this but probably overkill for an individual

#2 Julian on 03.08.04 at 6:40 pm

…or go to Windows XP Control Panel Add/Remove Programs and sort the list by date last used or frequency of use?

#3 Peter Bowyer on 03.08.04 at 7:15 pm

Julian, thanks for the suggestions. I should have clarified in my post that i’m after a free tool to do this :-)
For me the Add/Remove programs list doesn’t satisfy the desire, because a lot of the programs I use don’t feature in the list.

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