Existing users, 
Tech Tracker actually *does* what it is supposed to do, but only if it is installed properly, something its installer utterly fails to do.
After a successful installation, something its installer doesn't do - which is worth repeating - there should be a TTengine.app in a suitable folder and a TechTracker.prefpane in the /Library/PreferencePanes folder. As this is more like a utility, I guess it should be installed in /Library/Applications/Utilities.
Well, nothing like that happens. No application anywhere to be seen, no preference pane installed.
After running the installer (=cough=) and seeing that nothing happened, I inspected the package, read the installation script and found out that it created the folder /Library/TechTracker and put TTengine.app in it, and didn't install the preference pane anywhere. Hello?
I moved the folder TechTracker, together with the TTengine.app, to /Library/Applications/Utilities, copied the com.cnet.ttengine.plist to /Library/Preferences and manually (with administrator rights) installed the TechTracker.prefpane preference pane in /Library/PreferencePanes.
*Then*, and only then, it works.
You start a scan from System Preferences > Other > CNET TechTracker and it does a good job of listing your applications and their status.
If the developers are reading this feedback, please ensure that the installer is programmed properly. Pretty, please?
CNET TechTracker app
Detect and download updates for all of your installed software.
Version: 1.0 beta 4
How to properly install Tech Tracker, since the installer doesn't...
Feedback Type: Troubleshooting Report
Contributed by: mmjr777 Friday, October 23 2009 @ 05:00 AM PDT
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Less than a month
System Info:
Comments
How to properly install Tech Tracker, since the installer doesn't... - dgkanter
[OS 10.6.1 on MacBookPro2,2]Didn't have any problem using the installer on my computer. While I didn't check for any other files, I do now have a CNET TechTracker folder in my Applications folder. That CNET TechTracker folder contains a CNET TechTracker Uninstaller folder and the CNET TechTracker.app. And when I launch that app, it seems to be doing what it's supposed to do. (No manual moving of anything; no PrefPane involved.)
Sidebar: I have provided feedback that I don't see how to mark software as "Skipped"--as I can do in the VersionTracker Pro software which I'm running under a paid subscription--for those Out of Date items which I've deliberately decided not to update at the current time, but which I haven't decided to remove from my computer. To me, that's an important capability as, otherwise, I'll continue to be shown such wanted-to-be-skipped items among those out-of-date software about which I still need to make a decision.
Saturday, October 24 2009 @ 12:44 PM PDT
How to properly install Tech Tracker, since the installer doesn't... - mmjr777
The Tech Tracker preference pane has tabs to schedule the frequency of scanning (monthly, weekly, daily, every four hours), how Tech Tracker is updated (manual, automatic, notify) and an About this application.A scan will not take place based on the settings in the preference pane if the TTengine is not running, and I guess it must be an active process if the scheduled scans are to take place, on a cursory inspection of its .plist.
The uninstaller should remove components from ~/Library/LaunchAgent, ~/Library/PreferencePanes, ~/Library/Application Support, ~/Library/Preferences and /Library/TechTracker. There were only two items in the Application Support folder: Installed Software and State, and nothing in the others (after the first time I tried installing the package). Also, there are no receipts of the components in /Library/Receipts.
My system (Mac OS X 10.5.8, PowerBook G4 15" model 5,6) has four accounts: Administrator, two Standard and one Managed. It looks as though the installer does not take that into account.
Saturday, October 24 2009 @ 09:16 PM PDT
How to properly install Tech Tracker, since the installer doesn't... - mmjr777
Ops, forgot to add that the TTengine must be running, by the way, for the Preference Pane to work, but that is something that the developers will hopefully find a way to fix, won't they?In the meantime, you can start the engine manually, scan your system then kill it afterward, until the whole thing is properly packaged. (If it is not running the Preference Pane won't start it.)
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Friday, October 23 2009 @ 05:13 AM PDT