How to keep track of the software you actually use?

[Mandork]

I don't know if this is something I should be able to figure out using a native capacity of Windows XP, or what.  I've been contemplating a clean install of Windows for a while, and as part of that I want to clean up the clutter on my hard drive.  There are zillions of little programs and such that I have downloaded, most of which I never use, some of which I use all the time, and some of which are probably running and doing useful things right now but which I have been using for so long that I have forgotten I installed them.

What's the best way to see how often a program actually runs?  I was thinking that it would be nice to have something spreadsheet-like, that will tell you how many times a program was started and how long it was active in a defined period of time (in the last year, last 6 months, since Windows was installed, etc.).  Presumably there is a way to get at this information somewhere in Windows, but I don't know how to get to it.

Any advice?

[app103]

About the most detailed info I have been able to get is from using Wakoopa.

You can make your profile private if you don't want people seeing what you use.

Have a look around my profile to see what kind of data about your software usage you can get. Both the overview and usage pages have plenty of info.

Since the site is still fairly new, they are still adding features to it. If you don't see what you want/need, send the developers there an email and suggest it. They are pretty cool guys and they do listen.

[mnemonic]

There's also http://www.rescuetime.com, which does the same type of thing.