Comments on: Identify mystery apps installed on your PC

Even the best auto-cleanup utilities can't help you tell the useful programs on your system from the bloatware.

[hawkeyeaz1]

Windows does give more information--properties. The problem is, most companies that do make use of this (not enough do) don't put much helpful information in there either.

[splinter82]

I can;t help but notice that this article doesn't *actually* give you any tips on how to identify these types of mystery apps, but is basically just one users experience. Some tips on where to find out about such programs would be helpful- I, like you, tend to google my results to find out more information, but you could have linked some information resources into the article to help out.

[ChronicChaos]

I couldn't have said it better!

[tushargupta_b4u]

Viewpoint player is a part of VLC Media player.You must have installed vlc at that time.

[jpap93]

You could use Revo Uninstaller. It can search Google for the app's name [through your default browser], or even the company's name.
@2,3 I agree, not any help here...

[EdGuess]

Dennis, try to match the story to the title next time.

Well if no one else wants to recommend some tools for this, I guess I will:

Glary Utilities; http://download.cnet.com/Glary-Utilities/3000-2094_4-10508531.html?tag=mncol

In my opinion, more powerful than CCleaner. Does all the usuals but also contains a nifty process manager that shows all active processes and their executables, with options to permanently block them. Also has an online database with file ratings. This can also be accessed through the Startup manager.
The uninstaller is quick and clean, allows batch uninstallations, and can fix invalids. New programs gain a 'New!' suffix so they can be identified.
It has a Pay and a Free version, but to be honest, the pay version only unlocks auto-scans and auto-updates. Both I prefer to do manually.