Changed file identification, software conflict resolution and unwanted file removal
First Claim
1. A method of automatically identifying changes to a computer system, comprising:
- scanning the computer system for active software components;
investigating file change histories for the active software components to find recently updated files; and
searching a local file system for context information for the recently updated files.
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Accused Products
Abstract
As computer programs grow more complex, extensible, and connected, it becomes increasingly difficult for users to understand what has changed on their machines and what impact those changes have. An embodiment of the invention is described via a software tool, called AskStrider, that answers those questions by correlating volatile process information with persistent-state context information and change history. AskStrider scans a system for active components, matches them against a change log to identify recently updated and hence more interesting state, and searches for context information to help users understand the changes. Several real-world cases are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of using AskStrider to quickly identify the presence of unwanted software, to determine if a software patch is potentially breaking an application, and to detect lingering components left over from an unclean uninstallation.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of automatically identifying changes to a computer system, comprising:
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scanning the computer system for active software components;
investigating file change histories for the active software components to find recently updated files; and
searching a local file system for context information for the recently updated files. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer readable medium having computer-executable instructions to perform acts for automatically identifying changes to files on a computer system, the acts comprising:
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scanning the computer system for active software components;
investigating file change histories for the active software components to find recently updated files; and
searching a local file system for context information for the recently updated files.
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9. For use in a computer system executing a system restore operation that logs changes to files at restore points, a method of approximating the age of a file on the computer system, wherein a change to the file is logged by the system restore operation with respect to a first restore point, the method comprising:
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setting a lower-bound for the age of the file as the time the first restore point was created;
setting an upper-bound for the age of the file as the time a second restore point was created; and
approximating the age of the file to be within the range of the upper-bound and lower-bound;
wherein the second restore point immediately follows the first restore point sequentially. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A user interface for assisting a computer user with troubleshooting software conflicts on a local computer, the user interface comprising:
a list of user selectable items including processes currently executing on the computer;
wherein the list of user selectable items is sortable based on the time the items were last updated on the local computer.- View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. For use in a computer system including a system restore operation that periodically logs changes to files at restore points, a method of communicating between a computer troubleshooting module and a computer process comprising:
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receiving, from the computer process, a call having a plurality of parameters comprising a first time parameter; and
issuing, by the troubleshooting module, a list of processes and modules active on the computer system;
wherein the list of processes and modules is sorted by time last updated on the computer system relative to the first time parameter, and time last updated is determined by a method comprising investigating logs at system restore points. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification