This sub-section allows activating the recount of software licenses based on criteria specific to your environment. In addition, it allows you to track any type of file or set of files regardless of their nature.
In the simplest cases, the presence of a single executable file could mean that a particular software is installed on a PC. However, a single file cannot always guarantee the true and correct installation of a given program. In order to provide a solution that is adapted to all situations, Synexsys Inventory allows counting the software applications based on the presence of files and tracers. These files can be EXEs or DLLs, INIs or LNKs (start menu shortcuts) or even DATs or LICs. If you normally include tracers in software installations, these will help you differentiate officially installed software from pirated software.
One of the best ways of controlling piracy is to include a tracer as a file in the software installation disk (an internal_code.dat file, for instance). The presence of the tracer will guarantee that the installation is official and will allow you to distinguish non-authorised installations easily. Some of the companies that use Synexsys manage their licenses only by checking these tracers, and do not take into account the actual application's files.
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Creating Rules from queries and the "Software" / "Software EXE" tab It is often simpler to create software tracking rules and/or adding files from the query results or the PCs' software EXE summary. Click on any of the two links to learn more. |
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Viruses, screensavers, mpeg, etc. : With Synexsys you can easily detect them based on a single file. In the "File" sub-section of the Queries Section, you may query the database on all of a file's features. For instance, its name, path, version, size, etc. Query criteria can be rough. For example, you can enter "winz*.exe" to find winzip.exe, winzip32.exe, winzip80.exe, etc. Then, you can add the files you wish to track in the software tracking rules. In the "Software tracking" sub-section of the Views Section, you may then see which of the PCs have the tracked files on their disk. |
This window divided into 3 panes:
Software to track
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List of applications or sets of files for which tracking rules have been set.
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Detail
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Name: Name given to the software you want to trace. |
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Description: Description of the software. |
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Licenses number : Number of purchased licenses. |
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Suite: Allows you to visually differentiate suites and stand-alone software. |
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Active: Allows displaying or hiding the package from the views. The aim of this function is to avoid a specific package from being seen in the views when recognition tests have not yet been validated. This option also allows keeping tracking rules without systematically including them in the statistics.
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Number of mandatory files: This makes the tracking rule more flexible. If all the values are " 0 ", the "Complete recognition" pane of the Software Tracking view will only contain the PCs that fully match all rules. For instance: for MS-Office, if the rule requires the presence of 4 files: EXCEL.EXE, WINWORD.EXE, POWERPNT.EXE, and MSACCESS.EXE for a complete recognition, a PC having all of them except one will be classified under partial recognition. If certain values are not " 0 ", the number of conditions that are required for a complete recognition can be reduced. The advantage is not explicitly citing such conditions. For instance: if you do not want to make a distinction between MS-Office and MS-Office Pro licenses, you can create a rule that would require EXCEL.EXE, WINWORD.EXE, POWERPNT.EXE, and MSACCESS.EXE files but then enter a " 3 " in the field "EXE=" for the "Number of mandatory files".
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RulesTake into account:
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File name: name of the file (with extension) to take into account in the tracking. This is the main recognition criteria. As soon as you enter the file extension, the other fields become adapted to the context. You cannot use substitution characters in the file name. The file name should be entered exactly with its extension. For instance: babylon.exe |
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Other properties: Contrary to the file name, which is mandatory, there is no need to use other file properties for software tracking. Nevertheless, sometimes those fields can be very useful to determine the language of a software. Apart from the file Size and the Date, the other properties accept substitution characters.
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Substitution Characters
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* (star): Replaces a character string. For instance *:\progra*. |
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?: Replaces a single character. For instance ?:\program files\babylon. |
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[a,b,c]: Restricts the search to the named characters. For instance [c, d, e]:\progra*. |
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[c-e]: Allows you to work with a range of values. For instance [c-e]:\progra*. |
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[!f-z]: Allows you to exclude values or ranges of values. For instance: [!f-z]:\progra*. |
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All substitution characters can be combined together. |