Software verification system and methods

A method comprising:

• (a) providing a computer program comprising instructions for generating a product definition for a software product and validating installations of that software product using the generated product definition;
• (b) loading the computer program at a first computer having a first installation of a first software product installed thereon;
• (c) executing, using a processor of the first computer, instructions of the computer program which generate a first product definition for the first installation of the first software product installed on the first computer, such generation including
• (i) generating, for each file of the first installation on the first computer which includes a version number, a hash value for that respective file,
• (ii) generating information about registry entries on the first computer for the first software product;
• (d) loading the computer program at a second computer having a second installation of the first software product installed thereon;
• and
• (e) executing, using a processor of the second computer, instructions of the computer program which attempt to validate the second installation, such validation including
• (i) comparing the generated hash values for the first installation to generated hash values for the second installation, and
• (ii) comparing the generated information about registry entries on the first computer for the first software product to registry entries on the second computer for the first software product.