Get the most used applications in VB.NET

Question

Is there a way to get the most popular applications through VB.NET? I am developing a kind of hobby project as a quick start tool and I believe that it will fit perfectly with the basic form.

If possible, can someone explain to me how to add / remove applications in order to get the frequency of used applications? It would be nice if I could get it on the list, for example, in the XP / Vista startup menu.

Everyone is welcome any guide. :)

Answer 1

It looks like you can find information on how often the program starts in the registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\UserAssist\ 

Here are more explanations here and a .NET program here that you could rebuild to get count values ​​using VB.Net.

Answer 2

It could be a good place to start. Windows seems to do crappy work to determine how often apps are used.

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2004/07/09/178342.aspx

Answer 3

In accordance with this publication, information is stored in the first 28 bytes of the SlowInfoCache registry value found on the following key:

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Management\ARPCache 

Value format (in VB.Net):

 Structure SlowInfoCache Dim cLen As Integer ' size of the SlowInfoCache (552 bytes) Dim Flag As Boolean ' has a name Dim Size As Long ' program size in bytes Dim LastUsed As Long ' API-style FILETIME Dim Frequency As Integer ' 0-2 = rarely; 3-9 = occassionaly; 10+ = frequently Dim Path As String ' remaining 524 bytes (max path of 260 + null) in unicode End Structure 

If you are interested in other information displayed on the control panel → "Add or Remove Programs", you will find it for each product under the following registry key:

 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall 

Answer 4

Or, of course, these solutions are tracked only when the shell (explorer.exe) is used to launch the program using a shortcut (all elements of the initial menu are shortcuts). That is why it is so inaccurate.

FWIW I do not know about any microcomputer operating system that tracks the frequency of execution of program images.

I suggest your launcher, which you initially build using shortcuts from the quick launch bar, and just make it very easy for the user to set up, rather than trying to do anything automatic - automatic, which doesn’t work on the way, the user expects this to be one of the most unpleasant aspects of user interface design.

Answer 5

One question you should ask yourself is how are you going to determine the frequency?

Are you going to use it by the number of times the application starts or based on the time during which the application is running?