Every month we take questions for Dr. K.
Have a question for Dr. K? Send an e-mail to kketeam@kace.com
Question:
Hello Dr. K! I have a question regarding Software Inventory and the Software Catalog. I recently upgraded to 5.5 and I noticed there are some differences. What is the difference between the software I see in Software Inventory and Discovered Software listed in the Software Catalog? Can you explain them for me? Any help would be appreciated!
Answer:
That is a very good question. Software that is listed in the Discovered tab in the Software Catalog are the software titles that were discovered using new technology that is part of the Software Catalog feature itself. Software titles that are listed in the Software tab under Inventory is more of a legacy type of software inventory. It shows all software titles that are picked up using information found in the Uninstall registry key on your client machines during agent inventory.
Software Catalog technology works a little differently- it examines files, registry, processes, and more on the machine. It captures data about the executables and then uses that information to “fingerprint”, or identify, these executables as defined in the software catalog. If something is new to the catalog it will appear in the Uncatalogged tab of the Software catalog so that you can add it manually, choosing to keep it private or submit to Dell KACE for us to investigate further and add it to the catalog feed that benefits everyone.
There may be some discrepancies between what you see between software inventory and the software catalog. Sometimes installations/upgrades/uninstalls can leave behind bits and traces of themselves in terms of registry entries and leftover files on the hard drive. It is not abnormal to sometimes see discrepancies in the various titles installed in your enterprise.
Thanks for the question – I’ll get you a prize soon for picking your question!
—Dr. K
