Solved Extracting info from "Programs and Features"

[pokeefe0001]

Is there any way to get the information about installed programs - the information shown on Windows' Programs and Features display - into a file? I may have to reinstall Windows and would like a list of everything I'm going to have to reinstall.

 

[Britton30]

You can take a snip of it and save as a .jpg image.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/148532-how-use-snipping-tool-vista.html

 

[Golden]

Hi,

Give this a go:

Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

Regards,
Golden

 

[pokeefe0001]

You can take a snip of it and save as a .jpg image.
How to Use the Snipping Tool in Vista - Vista Forums

I'm a bit confused and frustrated by the doc on the the snipping tool. Everything I've read and watched failed to mention where to find it. I found it in accessories, but they could have mentioned that. Then, I see no way to get a copy of a whole scrollable image that is larger than the displayed window. And I see no way to append multiple snipped images. Maybe it's there but I haven't found it yet.

Hi,
Give this a go:
Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

At you suggestion I downloaded and tried that software. It's a bit overkill for my needs and takes a long time to do the extra stuff. Then it displays the actual components of installed products with no indication that they are all part of the same installation - not really helpful when I need an inventory of what I'll need to reinstall. And finally, I don't see that there is any way to get the installed component list into a file other than by doing a copy and paste ... which loses formatting into. I could, of course, collect the screen shots using the snipping tool as Britton30 suggested, but then I might as well just use Programs and Features.

 

[rraod]

Once again CCleaner to the rescue...

Download and install the latest version of CCleaner from internet.

Open CCleaner, by right clicking on Recycle Bin and select Open CCleaner, go to Tools tab, Select Uninstall tab. Here you will see all the programs installed in your system.

Press the button "Save to text file..." in the right bottom of the screen and select a path to store the file. CCleaner will create a text file containing all the details of installed programs as shown in the screen.

This text file can be converted into a comma delimited file by separating each item with a comma and saving the file with a .csv extension.

Now you can open this file in Microsoft Excel as a spreadsheet.

 

[pokeefe0001]

Once again CCleaner to the rescue...

Download and install the latest version of CCleaner from internet.

Open CCleaner, by right clicking on Recycle Bin and select Open CCleaner, go to Tools tab, Select Uninstall tab. Here you will see all the programs installed in your system.

Press the button "Save to text file..." in the right bottom of the screen and select a path to store the file. CCleaner will create a text file containing all the details of installed programs as shown in the screen.

Cool! I've had CCleaner for a long time but never used it for uninstalling programs so never noticed it had a "Save".

This text file can be converted into a comma delimited file by separating each item with a comma and saving the file with a .csv extension.

Now you can open this file in Microsoft Excel as a spreadsheet.

Hmm. That's a bit of a pain but maybe I can automate it. In any case, this is the best solution so far. Thank you.

 

[pokeefe0001]

Press the button "Save to text file..." in the right bottom of the screen and select a path to store the file. CCleaner will create a text file containing all the details of installed programs as shown in the screen.

This text file can be converted into a comma delimited file by separating each item with a comma and saving the file with a .csv extension.

Now you can open this file in Microsoft Excel as a spreadsheet.

It took me a while to figure this out, but it's simpler than you imply. The output is already tab-separated unicode. It's in a .txt file so I (foolishly) expected ASCII. Excel was smart enough tell that it was tab-separated and readily built a table. The only odd part is that the install date and size are together in one field.

 

[rraod]

It was after midnight when I typed the post. Sleepily tried the solution before posting and just took a glance at the output file. I have not explored to open with Excel in the night.

I have tried the file now and created the install.csv file with CCleaner. It had opened in Excel 2003 and correctly parsed the data into different cells. The date and size have come in separate cells.

I suggest you recreate the install.csv file again and try in MS Excel.

 

[pokeefe0001]

Could be I don't have the latest CCleaner - I didn't bother downloading a new one. I didn't bother creating a .csv file since Excel did just fine reading the .txt file. I really don't care if the install date and size are in the same field if it saves me from having to modify the output of CCleaner. (I would have had to both insert comas and remove tabs. Why bother?)

 

[rraod]

You got my message wrong.

I did nothing to insert commas and remove tabs. I just saved the file as install.csv (changing txt to csv) directly from CCleaner's Save dialog box and opened in Excel.

By the way my CCleaner version is 3.11.1550.

 

[maxseven]

Once again CCleaner to the rescue...

I didn't know this either--it's very useful to save a list of installed programs. Thank you!

 

[pokeefe0001]

You got my message wrong.

I did nothing to insert commas and remove tabs. I just saved the file as install.csv (changing txt to csv) directly from CCleaner's Save dialog box and opened in Excel.

By the way my CCleaner version is 3.11.1550.

You are right - I did misunderstand. And I didn't know that the "c" in .csv implied other kinds of separators (like tabs). I can't check what level of CCleaner I have since that PC is currently at the doctor having its hardware checked. It will come back with perhaps some new hardware and definitely a reinstalled Windows. (Hence my need for the inventory of installed software.)