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What determines "Frequency of Use" and "Date Last Used"?
I just had an occasion to look at "Add or remove Programs" (doesn't half
take a while to fill now!), and wondered what other options there are in the "Sort by:" dropdown (which defaults, reasonably, to "Name"). I find there are four: Name, Size, and the above two. I just wondered what sets them, as they're clearly wrong: "Frequency of Use": this has rarely, occasionally, frequently, and blank. Under rarely, it includes SpeedFan, which I use all the time (as a monitor - I have a dodgy blower) and Winamp, my Synaptics Pointing Device Driver, and my display driver, as well as lots that _are_ rarely used. Under occasionally, it shows Chrome, VLC, Panorama, and Everything - these I use most days. Under frequently, it shows both versions of Brother's Keeper (genealogy software) - OK, I use 7.2 frequently, but 6.6 not since I installed 7, some years ago. Then there are the ones at the bottom, which include several I use all the time. "Date Last Used": display, audio, and pointing devices, 2009-5-18; IrfanView, VLC, WinAmp, and Office, 2009-8-7; Pdf995 and System Scheduler, 2010-7-8; Panorama and SpeedFan 2012-3-2; Brother's Keeper 6.6, 2012-11-6 (despite being "frequently"); Firefox, 2015-2-1; BitMeter, 2016-3-25; latest anything, 2017-8-27. All of these (except BK6 and pdf995) I use most days, many all the time. There are also lots at the end of the list with no date. I've wondered about these for some time, having observed that they are wildly wrong, not only on my own system but on other people's, but have never seen any discussion of them. -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf `Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.' Pablo Picasso, 1968 |
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#2
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What determines "Frequency of Use" and "Date Last Used"?
J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I just had an occasion to look at "Add or remove Programs" (doesn't half take a while to fill now!), and wondered what other options there are in the "Sort by:" dropdown (which defaults, reasonably, to "Name"). I find there are four: Name, Size, and the above two. I just wondered what sets them, as they're clearly wrong: "Frequency of Use": this has rarely, occasionally, frequently, and blank. Under rarely, it includes SpeedFan, which I use all the time (as a monitor - I have a dodgy blower) and Winamp, my Synaptics Pointing Device Driver, and my display driver, as well as lots that _are_ rarely used. Under occasionally, it shows Chrome, VLC, Panorama, and Everything - these I use most days. Under frequently, it shows both versions of Brother's Keeper (genealogy software) - OK, I use 7.2 frequently, but 6.6 not since I installed 7, some years ago. Then there are the ones at the bottom, which include several I use all the time. "Date Last Used": display, audio, and pointing devices, 2009-5-18; IrfanView, VLC, WinAmp, and Office, 2009-8-7; Pdf995 and System Scheduler, 2010-7-8; Panorama and SpeedFan 2012-3-2; Brother's Keeper 6.6, 2012-11-6 (despite being "frequently"); Firefox, 2015-2-1; BitMeter, 2016-3-25; latest anything, 2017-8-27. All of these (except BK6 and pdf995) I use most days, many all the time. There are also lots at the end of the list with no date. I've wondered about these for some time, having observed that they are wildly wrong, not only on my own system but on other people's, but have never seen any discussion of them. The breadcrumbs lead here. "How does Add/Remove Programs get the size and other information?" https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/old...09-00/?p=38493 It's basically a feature, that tries to co-exist with the information an installer would make available in 1995. Now, even though I read parts of the page, I'm still not sure manually interfering with the information the method uses, would actually make it work. What the text describes is the fallback algo it uses. I'm still not convinced it works properly with information correctly provided (as you note). The text in the article, claims it counts usage, if you launch from the Start Menu. Paul |
#3
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What determines "Frequency of Use" and "Date Last Used"?
In message , Paul
writes: J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: I just had an occasion to look at "Add or remove Programs" (doesn't half take a while to fill now!), and wondered what other options there are in the "Sort by:" dropdown (which defaults, reasonably, to "Name"). I find there are four: Name, Size, and the above two. I just wondered what sets them, as they're clearly wrong: "Frequency of Use": this has rarely, occasionally, frequently, and [] The breadcrumbs lead here. "How does Add/Remove Programs get the size and other information?" https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/old...09-00/?p=38493 Thanks. So (a) it only gets them when you start things from Start, Programs [so desktop or startup locations don't count] and (b) the size entry is likely to be wrong too. It's basically a feature, that tries to co-exist with the information an installer would make available in 1995. Now, even though I read parts of the page, I'm still not sure manually interfering with the information the method uses, would actually make it work. What the text describes is the fallback algo it uses. I'm still not convinced it works properly with information correctly provided (as you note). The text in the article, claims it counts usage, if you launch from the Start Menu. Paul As many of the followup posts say, it'd be better not to have the size, frequency, or date fields, than to have them mostly wrong. Ho hum, it's not going to improve for XP, of course. Are they still as bad (and as slow) for 7, 10, etc.? -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf Why doesn't DOS ever say "EXCELLENT command or filename!" |
#4
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What determines "Frequency of Use" and "Date Last Used"?
On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 11:45:46 +0100, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
I just had an occasion to look at "Add or remove Programs" (doesn't half take a while to fill now!), and wondered what other options there are in the "Sort by:" dropdown (which defaults, reasonably, to "Name"). I find there are four: Name, Size, and the above two. I just wondered what sets them, as they're clearly wrong: "Frequency of Use": this has rarely, occasionally, frequently, and blank. Under rarely, it includes SpeedFan, which I use all the time (as a monitor - I have a dodgy blower) and Winamp, my Synaptics Pointing Device Driver, and my display driver, as well as lots that _are_ rarely used. Under occasionally, it shows Chrome, VLC, Panorama, and Everything - these I use most days. Under frequently, it shows both versions of Brother's Keeper (genealogy software) - OK, I use 7.2 frequently, but 6.6 not since I installed 7, some years ago. Then there are the ones at the bottom, which include several I use all the time. "Date Last Used": display, audio, and pointing devices, 2009-5-18; IrfanView, VLC, WinAmp, and Office, 2009-8-7; Pdf995 and System Scheduler, 2010-7-8; Panorama and SpeedFan 2012-3-2; Brother's Keeper 6.6, 2012-11-6 (despite being "frequently"); Firefox, 2015-2-1; BitMeter, 2016-3-25; latest anything, 2017-8-27. All of these (except BK6 and pdf995) I use most days, many all the time. There are also lots at the end of the list with no date. I've wondered about these for some time, having observed that they are wildly wrong, not only on my own system but on other people's, but have never seen any discussion of them. Those information only applies to applications which are installed using Windows Installer, AND whose program shortcut files points to a special Windows Installer namespace (e.g. product, feature, and component). An example for the latter one is when you open the property of a shoftcut file, its "Target" field doesn't point to a file system path and is not modifiable. When you open such shortcut, the shell let Windows Installer handles the application execution. Also, sometimes a small dialog box with a progress bar will be shown. So, Windows Installer knows when you use an application, and for how many times; then update the appplication installation database. All applications that don't use Windows Installer to install itself and create Windows Installer namespace based application shortcuts, their usage can't be tracked by the Add/Remove Programs control panel. Such applications will always have its usage shown as "rarely". |
#5
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What determines "Frequency of Use" and "Date Last Used"?
In message , JJ
writes: On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 11:45:46 +0100, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote: I just had an occasion to look at "Add or remove Programs" (doesn't half take a while to fill now!), and wondered what other options there are in the "Sort by:" dropdown (which defaults, reasonably, to "Name"). I find there are four: Name, Size, and the above two. I just wondered what sets them, as they're clearly wrong: [snip] Those information only applies to applications which are installed using Windows Installer, AND whose program shortcut files points to a special Windows Installer namespace (e.g. product, feature, and component). An example for the latter one is when you open the property of a shoftcut file, its "Target" field doesn't point to a file system path and is not modifiable. I don't _think_ I've got _any_ of those (Target field greyed out) here. (I've seen some such at work with my previous employer.) [] All applications that don't use Windows Installer to install itself and create Windows Installer namespace based application shortcuts, their usage can't be tracked by the Add/Remove Programs control panel. Such applications will always have its usage shown as "rarely". No, some show as "occasionally" and some "frequently" - including one I've not opened for a long time. -- J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf No, I haven't changed my mind - I'm perfectly happy with the one I have, thank you. |
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