Working with Detectable Software
When Mouse Tracks Audit 32 runs on a computer, it generates a list of files found on the system. By default, it will only gather a list of files ending with the .exe extension. You can modify the mtaudit32.ini file to allow for alternate extensions (be aware that this will increase the amount of time the audit takes to run). When you import these audit files, the files listed in the audit file are compared to records in the Detectable Software List. If a match is found, a detectable software product was found on the system.
Adding Custom Software Signatures
If a program exists on the system that Mouse Tracks does not recognize, you can manually add it to the list of detectable software. Below is a description of the detectable software record.
Detected File – This is the full file name (including extension) of the file you are detecting.
If you're looking for the application HelloWorld.exe, you could simply type this for the executable name. However, in some cases, HelloWorld.exe may be found in different directories and they may in fact be two different applications. If you need to further distinguish the application, you must add an underscore '_' followed by the file size to the end of the file. Therefore, HelloWorld.exe_178023 could be application 1, and HelloWorld.exe_13899 could be application 2.
Product – This is a text description of the software product that is found. This description may or may not be the one used depending on whether or not the override flag is set.
Protect – Choose this option if you want to protect this record when you update the detectable software list. If you do not choose this option, your newly created record will be deleted the next time you update your database with newer software signatures.
Ignore – Choose this option if you do not want Mouse Tracks to recognize this software product. If you choose 'ignore' you will most likely also want to choose 'protect'. This way, when you update the detectable software list with new signatures, the ignored signature will remain with the appropriate flags set.
Override – Set this option if you would always like to use the Product description that you entered. Most Windows 32-bit executable's contain the software publisher, title, and version information. By default, Mouse Tracks will try to use this information. This makes detecting version differences easy. If a new program is compiled as a new version, this information will be automatically reflected in the audit. Set the override option if the description returned by the audit is not the description that you want to appear. You would also usually set the override option if you have specified the size of the .exe file in the description. If the override option is not set and Mouse Tracks Audit 32 cannot determine a name for the application, it will use the Product description by default.
Flag - With Mouse Tracks 2002 and newer you can flag software products. This can be useful for two reasons. First of all, you can run the built-in flagged software report. This will quickly show you all the flagged software products found on all your computers. Secondly, when a software product is flagged, the item will be color-coded in the computer detail software list.
Deleting Signatures
To delete a software signature from Mouse Tracks, select the records from the list and then click the Delete command. Be sure that you want to actually delete the item (see the Ignore option above).
Updating the Detectable Software List
To update the detectable software list with new signatures, click on the Update Detectable Software List command. You can then browse to the Delimited text file containing the updated signatures. All software signatures that are 'Not Protected' will be deleted during this process. Before updating this list, you should verify that you have protected any custom signatures that you may have created. There will be an updated software signature file posted quarterly to the Mouse Track's web site.
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