How to determine if a given program is installed?

Ok, how would you suggest that I Look in the Registry for this?  What class in .NET will let me look for that?

Nevermind, I just found some old code that access the registry for a service (gives it a description).

Thanks, not exactly the type of answer i was looking for, but it will work.

What kind of answer were you looking for?

Bob

well, one that didn't involve looking in the registry for something that might be installed with that specific verbage.  One that would use a class like System.Diagnostics.Process (obviously not that one).  It doesn't matter that much, I just hate the registry.

Thank you for your time.

The Process class can only find references to running programs, and not installed ones.

Here is a class from my bag-o-tricks:

Imports Win32 = Microsoft.Win32

Public Class InstalledSoftware

  Public Shared Function GetList() As SortedList

    Const UNINSTALL$ = "SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall"

    ' Look in the registry at the Uninstall location.
    Dim rootKey As Win32.RegistryKey = _
     Win32.Registry.LocalMachine.OpenSubKey(UNINSTALL)

    ' Create a structure big enough for all the key entries under Uninstall.
    Dim listSoftware As New SortedList(rootKey.SubKeyCount - 1)

    ' Look through all the keys for the 'DisplayName' value.
    ' If 'DisplayName' not found, then just use the key name for
    ' the display name.
    For Each keyName As String In rootKey.GetSubKeyNames

      ' Get all sub-keys under Uninstall.
      Dim subKey As Win32.RegistryKey = rootKey.OpenSubKey(keyName)

      ' Start by using the key name as the display name.
      Dim displayName As String = keyName

      ' Look for the 'DisplayName' value, and use that name,
      ' if found.
      For Each valueName As String In subKey.GetValueNames

        If valueName.Equals("DisplayName") Then
          displayName = subKey.GetValue(valueName, "")

          Exit For
        End If

      Next valueName

      ' Add the display name to the list.
      listSoftware.Add(displayName, displayName)

    Next keyName

    ' Return the sorted list to the caller.
    Return listSoftware

  End Function  

End Class

Example usage:
  Dim list As SortedList = InstalledSoftware.GetList()

Bob

Thank you very much, that will help a great deal.