Newly Discovered Apps
Software has a way of appearing on a Windows PC without anyone asking for it. A feature update reinstalls apps you removed, an installer brings a companion tool along, a program adds a helper service during its own update.
O&O AppBuster remembers what was on your PC the last time you used it, and shows you what has changed since.
How it works
At the end of a session, O&O AppBuster stores a fingerprint of the apps that were present. At the start of the next session it compares the new scan against that record. Anything not in the record is flagged as new or changed.
Those apps:
- appear in the Newly discovered Smart View,
- are highlighted in the list with a small new marker.
The chip is only shown when there is something new to see, and only once a previous session's record exists — so it will not appear the very first time you run the program.
Why it is useful
- After a Windows feature update. Windows likes to bring back apps you deliberately removed. This is the fastest way to spot them.
- After installing something. Many installers add more than the program you asked for. Here you see exactly what arrived.
- On a PC you look after for someone else. "What has changed since I last cleaned this up?" answered in one click.
- As a habit. Starting O&O AppBuster occasionally and glancing at this view takes half a minute and keeps surprises small.
Marking them as viewed
When you have looked at the new apps, click Mark all as viewed.
This saves the current state as the new baseline and clears the new markers. The chip disappears, and the next time you start O&O AppBuster only apps that appeared after this point will be flagged.
If you do not mark them, they stay flagged as new — useful if you want to come back to them later, but it also means the view slowly stops being informative.
Open O&O AppBuster after every larger Windows update, look at Newly discovered, remove what you do not want, then Mark all as viewed. Your baseline is current again, and the next check is just as quick.
What counts as "new"
The comparison is based on which apps are present, so:
- A newly installed app shows up as new.
- An app that was reinstalled by Windows after you removed it shows up as new — which is exactly the point.
- An app that only received an update may show up as changed if its registration changed.
- An app you removed yourself simply disappears from the list; removals are not flagged.
Relationship to "Recently installed"
The two views answer different questions and often disagree, which is intended:
| Smart View | Question it answers | Based on |
|---|---|---|
| Recently installed | What has been installed in the last 30 days? | The app's install date as recorded by Windows |
| Newly discovered | What has appeared since I last used O&O AppBuster? | O&O AppBuster's own record from your last session |
An app can be recently installed without being newly discovered — you already saw it last week. And an app can be newly discovered while carrying an old install date, because Windows sometimes restores an app with its original date. In that case Newly discovered is the more truthful of the two.