Abstract: A method and apparatus identifies changes made to a computer system caused by the installation of software. The state of the computer system is recorded before the software is installed and, after the software is installed, the recorded state is compared against the state of the computer system. Changes are written into a manifest, which may be combined with any new or changed files and an installation program to produce a package which can be sent to another computer system for installation.

Abstract: A method and apparatus checks a set of files against a manifest to determine whether to accept or reject the files. The manifest contains one or more policy sections that describe whether to accept files that are described in the manifest but not received, or received but not described in the manifest. The method and apparatus determines whether files are listed in the manifest but not received, or received but not listed in the manifest, and can accept the files in these circumstances based on the policy section of the manifest. The manifest may also contain a hash result for each file. The method and apparatus can hash the files received and compare the hash result produced with the hash result specified in the manifest. If the hash results computed for the file are different from the hash result for the file in the manifest, the file or the set of files may be rejected.

Abstract: A method and apparatus connects a user to a remote network, and enforces operation of management software before the user is allowed to perform other tasks on the remote network. The method and apparatus also allows connection of the user to a third party network. The user may be restricted from accessing third party networks not on a trusted list of networks, which may be updated by the management software. The method and apparatus enforces access rules for the third party software to prevent unauthorized retrieval or deletion of information by the third party software.

Abstract: A computer program product and apparatus builds a set of uninstall instructions from a set of installation instructions so that one or more installations of computer updates can be removed.

Abstract: A system and method for distributing software applications and data to many thousands of clients over a network. The applications are called “channels”, the server is called the “transmitter”, and the client is called the “tuner”. The use of channels is based on subscription. The end-user needs to subscribe to channel before it can be executed. When the end-user subscribes to a channel the associated code and data is downloaded to the local hard-disk, and once downloaded the channel can be executed many times without requiring further network access. Channels can be updated automatically at regular intervals by the tuner, and as a result the end-user is no longer required to manually install software updates, instead these software and data updates are automatically downloaded and installed in the background.

Abstract: A system and method for distributing software applications and data to many thousands of clients over a network. The applications are called "channels", the server is called the "transmitter", and the client is called the "tuner". The use of channels is based on subscription. The end-user needs to subscribe to channel before it can be executed. When the end-user subscribes to a channel the associated code and data is downloaded to the local hard-disk, and once downloaded the channel can be executed many times without requiring further network access. Channels can be updated automatically at regular intervals by the tuner, and as a result the end-user is no longer required to manually install software updates, instead these software and data updates are automatically downloaded and installed in the background.