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How to find which software created a registry key and when?

Anonymous
2018-01-07T00:28:02+00:00

How to find which software created a registry key and when?

For example i want to find when "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\QualityCompat" was created?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Security and privacy

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  1. LemP 74,930 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-01-07T01:45:13+00:00

    AFAIK, there's no general method to determine how changes in the Registry are made, but if the value for this key is

    cadca5fe-87d3-4b96-b7fb-a231484277cc

    then it was created by your antivirus program to indicate that the antivirus program is compatible with the Microsoft patch that helps protect against the recently-announced Meltdown and Spectre bugs in Intel and other processors.  See, e.g., https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4056897/windows-7-update-kb4056897

    More discussion here:  How to Check and Update Windows Systems for the Meltdown and Spectre CPU Flaws

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-01-07T23:08:34+00:00

    Thanks. I knew that key was created by AV as part of this ongoing vulnerability. But actually it made me start thinking how one would find out timestamp of registry key generation and which software/code created it? Just a general question.

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