Software Audit

[irideutah]

So I am in no way a computer guy (but my ability to "fix" peoples stupid mistakes has made me the unofficial IT guy). However I have been tasked with identifying all the software that has been loaded on all the computers in our department and then track down all the purchase receipts and such for our software audit.

Does anyone have a good way of identifying software that has been added to a computer. I printed a copy of the program files but I think a bunch of the stuff in that file lists things that came pre-installed. I have a hard time identifying what software I should be looking for. I don't want to spend hours looking for something that is pre-loaded

I know its a really random question but this task seems impossible to me so far

 

[Indigo]

Look into Spiceworks. You can install it on a host PC or server, and then set it up (easily) to perform software inventory of all the connected PCs. The outputs are easy to use, and you can really get a good idea of what is going on with your network. It works best on an Active Directory Domain environment, but I use it at home with a mixed network (both active directory and standard workgroups)

As long as the software knows which accounts it can use to log into systems in a non-domain environment, it can poll each PC. It's also useful because it includes things like a helpdesk ticketing system, community support (separate from these forums) and the ability to run plugins and other programs to tie into the environment.

Yes, totally free.