How do I capture the Add or Remove Programs list?

[CheckUserFirst]

Is there a way to autoscroll the Add/Remove control panel applet to capture an image (or better yet, OCR it to get a text list)???

[mouser]

I did a scrolling window capture (ctrl+shift+prtscr) of the Add/Remove dialog without any problem.

[cyberdiva]

Mouser, I've just downloaded Screenshot Captor and tried to duplicate what I think you said you did, i.e., captured the entire Add/Remove Programs listing.  I selected the Grab Windows Object or Scrolling Window (CTL+SHFT+PRTSCN) option from the right-click menu.  It seemed to scroll, though I couldn't really tell because mostly what I saw was black with occasional bursts of white.  But when it finished, apparently all I had was the first panel, i.e. the part I could see with no scrolling.  However, what I wanted was for Screenshot Captor to make the Add/Remove Programs listing scroll and capture the entire list of programs.  Is that possible?  If so, how?

I should add that until now, I've always used HyperSnap for AutoScroll captures, and I especially loved its AutoScroll Region feature, which worked faster, more flexibly, and more simply than any other program I'd ever tried.  Recently, though, I've been having problems getting it to work well with Firefox (though it still works well with Opera), so I'm very interested in what Screenshot Captor can do.  I'm amazed at all its features, which I haven't really had time to explore.  But the one I'm most interested in is a way to autoscroll, and especially to autoscroll and capture a region.

Update:  To set the record straight, I'm happy to report that the developer of HyperSnap has fixed the problem I was having using AutoScroll Region with Firefox 3.5.  It now works very well again with both Firefox and Opera.

[CheckUserFirst]

mouser, did it capture the whole list content or the just the Add/Remove window?

The problem here is that I can't select just the list window. It selects the whole Add/remove window

I get the same as cyberdiva... The dialog flashes, mostly becoming black, but it doesn't scroll (I think it's behaving properly since the outer window is not supposed to scroll)

[Carol Haynes]

You could install CCleaner and capture its version of Add/Remove programs under Tools (which loads a hell of a lot quicker too). Works fine for me using SnagIt so I don't see why SSC shouldn't capture it easily too.

[cyberdiva]

Actually, I just tried to capture the contents of the Add/Remove window using HyperSnap.  I had no problem: it scrolled through the entire long list and captured it all.  I was happy to see that, since it's further evidence for me that whatever problem I've been having with the AutoScroll Region feature in HyperSnap may be related only to its behavior with Firefox.

I'd still love to know whether Screenshot Captor can also accomplish this.

[mouser]

I'd still love to know whether Screenshot Captor can also accomplish this.

Screenshot Captor should have no problem capturing the contents of the Add/Remove window using a scrolling capture -- it works for me fine.  I'll have to explore why some people seem to be having trouble getting this to work.

[CheckUserFirst]

I'm using Windows XP Pro x86 SP3 and Windows XP Pro x64 SP2 and Screenshot Captor v2.70.02

On both systems the red highlight (after I press Ctrl+Shift+PrtScr or select from the tray icon menu) never allows to select the scrollable list box. It just selects the whole Add/Remove window. Therefore it is not unexpected that it can't scroll down...

[mouser]

I stand corrected -- i was not trying the add/remove dialog but the task manager dialog -- i misread the post.
I haven't tried the add/remove dialog, but if it is as CheckUserFirst says, then that would be a problem.  I'm curious to know how HyperSnap does it (though I must say the HyperSnap author is a very clever guy so i'm not surprised if he found a clever solution).

[CheckUserFirst]

Carol Haynes thank you VERY MUCH!!!

Your suggestion doesn't solve the Screenshot Captor problem but it is in fact what I was looking for!!!
I just wanted a text list and with CCleaner I just have to "Save to text file..." (BTW it is indeed much faster than the Add/Remove applet)

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

[cyberdiva]

I'm curious to know how HyperSnap does it (though I must say the HyperSnap author is a very clever guy so i'm not surprised if he found a clever solution).

Mouser, if you mean how he does it technically, I don't have a clue.  But I can describe the feature.  If you choose AutoScroll Region, you get something that's rather like a crop mechanism for a photograph--a selection box that you can make larger or smaller and position wherever on the screen you want it (it also gives you the dimensions as you change its size).  You choose the region of the screen that you want to capture as it scrolls down.  You click when you've got the position you want, and then you click on the down arrow of the vertical scroll bar.  The screen scrolls, and you can see everything as it scrolls.  When you want it to stop, you press ESC or simply wait until it gets to the bottom of the item you're capturing.  You've then got a capture that includes just the area you want, rather than the entire width of the screen.  I use this feature a LOT.  Since the upgrade to Firefox 3.5 (now 3.5.2), I've had some problems with it, but it still works very well in Opera (up through version 6.61.02--the most recent version, 6.61.03, was an attempt to deal with the Firefox problem, and for me at least it made the feature work less well in Opera).  

There's also a way to capture a window that goes beyond the screen in both width and length, but that uses a different mechanism: you specify the pixel size you want the capture to be.  For me, that sometimes takes several attempts to get the correct estimate, but at times it's worth it.

[biox]

Carol Haynes thank you VERY MUCH!!!

....it is in fact what I was looking for!!!

To add to Carol's suggestion, Revo Uninstaller in either list or icon view gives you a neat screen shot as well.

[CheckUserFirst]

biox, I use Revo and had never noticed the List view, which has a lot of very interesting information. Thank you for the tip!

Curiously, Screenshot Captor doesn't do so well capturing the list... It does scroll the box and capture the whole information but it repeats the Header and the last line in each screen full...

[app103]

I stand corrected -- i was not trying the add/remove dialog but the task manager dialog -- i misread the post.
I haven't tried the add/remove dialog, but if it is as CheckUserFirst says, then that would be a problem.  I'm curious to know how HyperSnap does it (though I must say the HyperSnap author is a very clever guy so i'm not surprised if he found a clever solution).

Snagit 5 also fails with Auto Scroll in the add/remove window.

But Snagit contains a second type of scrolling capture in addition to Auto Scroll, that does work.  The Custom Scroll feature is very much the same as what cyberdiva described for HyperSnap.

By the way, using Custom Scroll with Text Capture in Snagit works quite well in add/remove programs, to get the list of applications without anything from the file size column.

You really should add text capture to SC, so I'll have one less reason to use Snagit. 

[biox]

It does the scroll capture in Revo, whatever view, but no success with add and remove on this site of the planet.

[skwire]

Just use Nir Sofer's myUninstaller.  His app allows you to export the data in a variety of formats.

[CheckUserFirst]

Thank you for the tip, skwire

Unfortunately, I can't get two similar lists... The list from Revo's is different from NirSoft's, and different from CCleaner's and all are different from the Add/Remove list. I wish there was some standard here...

In any case, as app103 says, it would be great if mouser could fix the scroll capture and add a Text Capture 

[skwire]

In my own coding experiences, OCR is a right pain in the @$$ to get working well.

[app103]

In my own coding experiences, OCR is a right pain in the @$$ to get working well.

I don't think it uses real OCR, since it is unable to capture text from screenshots of images. Real text has to be somewhere in there.