Re: Who installed Microsoft Office 365 on my PC on Tuesday September 19, 2023?

Oscar Mayer <[email protected]> wrote:

> Please see image file: [https://i.postimg.cc/Z5NLdy93/msoffice365.jpg]
> 
> I needed to uninstall an unrelated program using Revo Uninstaller 2.17
> when I noticed that Microsoft Office 365 was "installed" on my single-user
> desktop PC on Tuesday the 19th of September, 2023 (I'm the only user).
> 
> But I already have Microsoft Office 2007 installed for a dozen years, 
> and it works just fine on my PC (which was a high-end PC at the time).
> 
> I never wish to "subscribe" to any product that doesn't provide a
> single-user "permanent" license - so certainly I didn't add this.
> 
> Who did?

You sure MS Office (the suite) is installed?  In Windows 10, Microsoft
bundled their Office Live app, and added a tile to the Start menu.  They
rebranded it to Microsoft 365.  It is just a web-centric app to
interface with your Microsoft account, if you have one, to use the free
MS Office 365 Online apps.  

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/free-office-online-for-the-web

These web apps do not have the full feature set of the installed Office
product.  Well, they're web apps, and they're free.  In Revo, notice the
size of the "Microsoft 365 (Office)" product is a mere 8.84 MB.
Obviously the full Office suite is not going to be so puny.

Microsoft 365 (Office)
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/microsoft-365-office/9WZDNCRD29V9

File you create with the online web apps are stored in your MS OneDrive
online file storage quota (5 GB to start, pay for more).  I never used
this app other to to find out what it did.  I don't remember if it
allowed your data files to be stored locally, or if you had to initiate
a download from your OneDrive account to your computer.  If you have the
OneDrive client installed on your computer, you can configure that
online files get synchronized to your computer.

Revo does not show the actual install date when a product was /first/
installed.  The install date it shows could be an update.  Some updates
are not incremental.  Instead the entire product is installed atop the
existing installation.  So, Revo see an install date of when the update
got applied.  Add/Remove Programs will do the same: if the product's
upgrade was actually a full install, it shows the new date.  I've had
the standalone MS Office Pro Plus 2021 installed since Nov 2022.  I had
MS Office 365 before, but let its license lapse and removed the suite
about 3 years ago.  I hit so many deficiencies with Libre Office that I
went back to MS Office.  Apparently there was an update today which both
Windows and Revo thinks is a full install, so they list today as the
install date.

I think the install date is based on when the uninstaller was added to
the registry (the uninstaller is usually the installer program that uses
the install log to remove the program).  The uninstall tracking is at:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall

For my standalone Office 2021 install, there is a subkey under there:

ProPlus2021Retail - en-us

but it doesn't have an install date.  It uses the Click-To-Run scheme,
and:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{90160000-007E-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE}

shows an install date of 20230917 for the Click-to-Run licensing
component.  Not all uninstall entries have the product name.  A GUID
might be used instead for the program.

When a program gets updated, that could reflect its install date.  The
original install date gets stepped on.