Autopatcher usage - Easily tracked?

[mad_mouse007]

Hi, I'm just curious how easy it is to hide the fact that Autopatcher had previously been used on a system.

So far, I'm only aware of a registry key (which I delete after using autopatcher): HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\AutoPatcher

and clearing the explorer history and run history. Anything else I should be aware of?

I'm deploying Autopatcher from a network share but do not wish other power users or network administrators to know that I've been using Autopatcher :p Call me paranoid if you like XD

[+theblazingangel MVC]

well, delete HKLM\SOFTWARE\AutoPatcher (as you already did), also delete HKCU\SOFTWARE\AutoPatcher for any user account you ran autopatcher.exe on (if exists)

you should also scan the registry for 'autopatcher', there could be references to autopatcher.exe having been run, and things you install via autopatcher may store the dir they were installer from (so disguise the dir)

you should also clean out your temp dir's to make sure nothing is left behind, and make sure that C:\#AutoPatche Temp#\ (or whatever it's name is) is deleted. also make sure that if you installed the wallpaper modules, you delete the autopatcher related ones.

i don't see why on earth it's necessary though...

[jfree81762]

Knowledge is power in some businesses. Not sharing that knowledge will get you farther as you're the only one who has the knowhow. Kinda how I became our Image Guru. Nobody else had an interest in APXP so I took it and ran with it. Made images better, faster and quicker than our previous R&D manager, who was still installing through OPK and Windows corporate download site over a crappy wireless internet connection.

[PsiMoon314]

Hi,

  mad_mouse007 said:

I'm deploying Autopatcher from a network share but do not wish other power users or network administrators to know that I've been using Autopatcher :p Call me paranoid if you like XD

If the PC's do not belong to you or you are not responsible for their maintainance then you should take care when updating or repairing them with any tool, not just AutoPatcher.

The Admin's or Management may take a dim view of this and you could end up in serious trouble, including getting fired.

Personally if the PC's are not patched correctly then send a memo to the person responsible and leave it up to them to sort it out!

If the PC's are compromised or fail because of this then it's no longer your issue to worry about. Keep documentation of this so you can provide proof should this be needed ;)

Regards

Simon

[mad_mouse007]

Well, I'm the site admin for PCs in the building I'm working at. Just don't want the network management people to find out through SMS that I've been running autopatcher. I usually run Autopatcher (just for critical updates) before installing SMS. lolz

Well, if any system does crash, I'd just reinstall/ground-up again without running autopatcher :p

  PsiMoon314 said:

Hi,

If the PC's do not belong to you or you are not responsible for their maintainance then you should take care when updating or repairing them with any tool, not just AutoPatcher.

The Admin's or Management may take a dim view of this and you could end up in serious trouble, including getting fired.

Personally if the PC's are not patched correctly then send a memo to the person responsible and leave it up to them to sort it out!

If the PC's are compromised or fail because of this then it's no longer your issue to worry about. Keep documentation of this so you can provide proof should this be needed ;)

Regards

Simon