JP2009069959A - Software management system, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve proper utilization of software by securing a fixed security level in software installed in a computer device such as a personal computer. <P>SOLUTION: This software management system 8 forcedly applies the security policy of software in a personal computer by a security policy application function 1, and confirms the installation status of software in a personal computer by a software approval/non-approval check function 2, and performs the forced installation of standard software or the forced uninstallation of installation inhibition software, and checks the use time of software in the personal computer, and performs the forced uninstallation of software which has not reached the minimum use time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a management technique for software installed in a computer device such as a personal computer (PC) or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and is particularly suitable for ensuring a constant security level of the computer device. It is about technology.

  Conventionally, in order to confirm the security level status and usage status of software installed in a computer device, for example, the following technologies described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 are used.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a security policy server that stores a client-specific information database that stores information used to identify each client, and a security policy that stores conditions (security policy) used to determine whether each client is allowed to log in to the network. This security policy database stores security level information as a security policy, and uses these client-specific information database and security policy database to compare the security level information recorded for each client. The first technique for determining whether or not the client is permitted to log in to the network and the operating status of the client are constantly monitored, and the security level is monitored. If There becomes lower than the predetermined level, the second technique of cutting the network connection of the client is described as a security policy violation.

  Patent Document 2 discloses a third technique for determining whether or not to permit installation of the software according to the limited type of software specified by the user or the license distribution status (security policy). A fourth technique is described in which authorized software is transmitted from a software library to a local terminal and installed.

  However, these techniques have the following problems. For example, in the first technique described in Patent Document 1, the security policy application status is confirmed to determine whether the network login of the client or the network connection is permitted or not, but the security of the installed software Even if the hole is found, network connection is possible.

  In the second technique described in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that software having a security problem may be used in a state where a network is connected.

  Further, the third technique described in Patent Document 2 deals with the installation of permitted software. However, since software for which installation is prohibited or software in a license violation state is not checked, it is continuously performed. It becomes available.

  Further, in the fourth technique described in Patent Document 2, if the software is permitted to be installed, the software license is not returned even when there is almost no actual usage. As a result, software licenses cannot be used effectively.

JP 2002-366525 A JP 2002-6975 A

  The problems to be solved are that, in the prior art, (1) network connection is possible even when a security hole of installed software is found, and (2) the network is connected. There is a possibility that software with a security problem may be used. (3) Since installation-prohibited software or license violation software has not been checked, it can continue to be used. 4) Since software licenses are never returned even if there is almost no actual usage, software licenses cannot be effectively used if installation is permitted.

  An object of the present invention is to solve these problems of the prior art and to ensure a certain level of security with respect to software in a computer apparatus and to enable proper use of software.

  In order to achieve the above object, in the present invention, the security policy application function forcibly applies, for example, the security policy of the software in the personal computer, and the software approval / non-approval check function checks the installation status of the software in the personal computer. Confirmation, forcibly installing standard software or forcibly uninstalling installation-prohibited software, checking the usage time of software in the personal computer, and forcibly uninstalling software that does not meet the minimum usage time.

  According to the present invention, the security level of the installed software can be kept constant by the processing of the security policy application function and the software approval / non-approval check function, and the reliability of the computer device in which the software is installed can be improved. It becomes possible to plan. In addition, the processing of the software approval / non-approval check function and the software usage status management function makes it possible to appropriately allocate software licenses and improve the accuracy of license management.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a software management system according to the present invention. An information system department 9 is provided with a management terminal 11 operated by an administrator 10, and a user department 15 is provided with a user 16. Application target terminals 17 to 19 including personal computers (PCs) to be operated are provided, and the management terminal 11 and the application target terminals 17 to 19 are connected to the management terminal 11 and the application target terminals 17 to 19 via the network. The application and software usage status management system ”) 8 is connected.

  Similar to the management terminal 11 and application target terminals 17 to 19, the software management system 8 has a computer configuration including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a main memory, a display device, an input device, an external storage device, and the like, and an optical disk drive device After installing a program or data recorded in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM through an external storage device through the external storage device, the program is read from the external storage device into the main memory and processed by the CPU, thereby allowing the functions of each processing unit to function. Execute.

  That is, the software management system 8 includes a security policy application function 1, a software approval / non-approval check function 2, and a software usage status management function 3 as means for executing programmed computer processing, operation of the management terminal 11, etc. By reading, processing, and writing the information stored in the software installation storage information 4, the software security policy information 5, the device management information 6, and the software configuration information 7 stored in the storage device in FIG. Security management processing for software in the target terminals 17 to 19 is performed.

  Further, the software management system 8 includes a software license management system 12 as programmed computer processing means, and uses the software license management information 13 stored in the storage device to manage the management terminal 11 and the application target terminals 17 to 19. The software license status management process is executed.

  In this example, the software management system 8 is connected to the application target terminals 17 to 19 via a commercially available PC information collection tool 14.

  The software management system 8 having such a configuration, for example, for the software in the application target terminal 17 by processing based on the software installation storage information 4, the software security policy information 5, the device management information 6 and the like by the security policy application function 1. Thus, the security policy stored in the software security policy information 5 is forcibly applied, and the software installation storage information 4, the software configuration information 7, the device management information 6, and the software license management information 13 by the software approval / non-approval check function 2. In the process based on the above, the installation status of the software in the application target terminal 17 is confirmed, the standard software is forcibly installed in the application target terminal 17, and the application target terminal 17 forcibly uninstalling the installation-prohibited software from the software 17, and the processing based on the software installation storage information 4, the device management information 6, the software configuration information 7, the software license management information 13, etc. The usage time of the software in the application target terminal 17 is checked, and the software that is less than the predetermined minimum usage time is forcibly uninstalled.

  That is, the security policy application function 1 stores security policy information that is set in advance for each software and is registered in the storage device as software security policy information 5 or the like that defines whether or not the software needs to be updated for each security level. With reference to the reading, the security level update processing for the software is executed on the application target terminals 17 to 19 in which the software is installed based on the security policy information set for the software.

  The software approval / non-approval check function 2 is installed in the applicable target terminals 17 to 19 which are set in advance for the target computer device and registered as software configuration information 7 and software license management information 13 in the storage device. Is read and referred to, and the forced installation of the permitted software and the forced uninstallation of the unauthorized software are executed on the application target terminals 17 to 19.

  The software usage status management function 3 reads the minimum usage time information of the software, which is set in advance for each software and registered in the storage device as the software configuration information 7 and the like, and is the application target in which the software is installed If the usage time does not reach the minimum usage time as compared to the usage time of the software in the terminals 17 to 19, the software is forcibly uninstalled from the application target terminals 17 to 19.

  Details of the processing operation of the software management system 8 will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  2 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing operation according to the present invention of the security policy application function in the software management system of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3A is the present invention of the software approval / non-approval check function in the software management system of FIG. FIG. 3B is a flowchart showing the second half of the processing operation example according to the present invention of the software approval / non-approval check function in the software management system of FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the first half of the processing operation example according to FIG. FIG. 5A is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of software installation storage information in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5B is a software diagram in FIG. Configuration of security policy information 5C is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of the device management information in FIG. 1, FIG. 5D is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of the software configuration information in FIG. 1, and FIG. 5E is a software license in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of management information.

  As shown by the item description 20 in FIG. 5A, the software installation storage information 4 in FIG. 1 includes “device management CD; management code uniquely assigned to the management target device”, “software name; installed software” "Name", "version: version of installed software", "application date: version upgrade date or installation date of installed software", "patch information; first security patch identification information (security patch name, etc.) , Blank when not applied ”,“ patch application date; first security patch application date, blank when not applied ”, as shown by“ item number 1 ”in data example 21 in FIG. 5A. , “Device management CD = 2001”, “Software name = aaaaaa”, “ John = 100 "," effective date = 2006/12/1 "," patch information = 100-01 ", in the configuration, such as" patching Date = 2006/12/1 ", each information is recorded.

  5B, the software security policy information 5 in FIG. 1 includes “software name; software name”, “version; software version”, “version application / non-application; version application / non-application ( (Required, optional, prohibited) ”,“ patch information; first security patch identification information (security patch name, etc.), blank if there is no patch information ”,“ patch information application presence / absence; first security patch application presence / absence Information (required, optional, prohibited) and blank when there is no patch information. Similarly, as shown by “item number 1” in data example 23 in FIG. 5B, “software name = aaaaaa”, “ “Version = 100”, “Version application / non-application = prohibited”, “Patch information = 100-02”, Patching whether = forbidden "configuration, such as, the information is recorded.

  5C, the device management information 6 in FIG. 1 includes “device management CD; management code uniquely assigned to the device to be managed”, “standard software configuration NO; “Standard software configuration number of the device”, “User CD: User code using the managed device (User code is uniquely assigned in another system)”, “Installation location: Managed device installed , “MAC address; MAC address of the network interface device built in the managed device”, “Processing flag 1; Flag indicating whether or not the security policy application function is implemented, blank when not implemented”, “ Process execution date 1; Last execution date of security policy application function ”,“ Process flag 2; , Blank when not implemented "," Processing date 2; Last date of software approval / non-approval check function "," Processing flag 3: Flag indicating whether the software usage management function is implemented, blank when not implemented ”,“ Process execution date 3; Last execution date of the software usage status management function ”, and as shown by“ Item No. 1 ”in the data example 25 in FIG. 5C,“ Device management CD = 2001 ”, “Standard Software Configuration NO = S001”, “User ID = 30,0001”, “Installation Location = AAA Building”, “MAC Address = 00-01-01-01”, “Processing Flag 1 = Done”, “Processing Date” 1 = 2006/12/1 ”,“ Processing flag 2 = Done ”,“ Processing date 2 = 2006/12/1 ”,“ Processing flag 3 = Done ”,“ Processing date 3 = 2006/12/1 ” In the configuration such as Information is recorded.

  5D, the software configuration information 7 in FIG. 1 includes “standard software configuration NO; standard software configuration NO of managed device”, “software 1; first software name”, “ Applicability flag 1; Flag indicating applicability of first software (required, optional, prohibited) ”,“ Minimum usage time 1; Minimum usage time of first software ”,“ Software 2; Second software name ” , “Applicability flag 2; Flag indicating whether the second software can be applied (required, optional, prohibited)”, “Minimum usage time 2; Minimum usage time of the second software”, “Software 3; Third software "Name", "applicability flag 3; flag indicating applicability of third software (required, optional, prohibited)", "minimum usage time 3; 3 "Minimum use time of software", "Software n; nth software name", "Applicability flag n; Flag indicating whether or not the nth software can be applied (required, optional, prohibition)", "Minimum use time n; As shown by “Item No. 1” in the data example 27 in FIG. 5D, “Standard software configuration NO = S001”, “Software 1 = aaaa”, “ Applicability flag 1 = required, “Minimum usage time 1 = 5 minutes”, “Software 2 = bbbbbb”, “Applicability flag 2 = required”, “Minimum usage time 2 = 5 minutes”, “Software 3 = ccccc” “Applicability flag 3 = prohibited”, “Minimum usage time 3 = 5 minutes”, “Software n = xxxx”, “Applicability flag n = required”, “Minimum usage time n = 5” "Configuration, such as, the information is recorded.

  5E, the software license management information 13 in FIG. 1 includes “software name; software name”, “version; software version”, “device management CD; Management code uniquely assigned, blank when not used ”,“ license use permission flag; flag indicating whether license can be used or not, blank when not used ”. As shown in “No. 1”, each piece of information is recorded in a configuration such as “software name = aaaa”, “version = 100”, “device management CD = 2001”, “license use permission flag = permitted”. Yes.

  In the following, the processing operation by each function (security policy application function 1, software approval / non-approval check function 2, software usage status management function 3) of the software management system 8 in FIG. To do.

  The security policy application function 1 in FIG. 1 executes the procedure shown in FIG. 2 described below to forcibly perform software upgrades and security patches on the application target terminals 17 to 19, thereby A security policy regarding software is applied to the terminals 17 to 19.

  First, in step 101, a security policy application instruction procedure is executed, and, for example, device information 150 (“device management CD: 2001”, “MAC address” of the application target terminal 17 to which the security policy is applied, from the device management information 6. : 00-01-02-03 ").

  In the next step 102, a software installation information acquisition procedure is executed, using the device management CD (“2001”) and the MAC address (“00-01-02-03”) in the terminal information 150 related to the application target terminal 17, The application target terminal 17 is accessed via the commercially available PC information collection tool 14 shown in FIG. 1, the registry information in the application target terminal 17 is read, and the software information 151 (“ Device management CD: 2001 "," software name: abc "," version: 100 ").

  In step 103, a software installation information update procedure is executed, and the software installation storage information 4 is updated based on the contents of the software information 151 acquired in the processing of step 102.

  In step 104, a software policy information acquisition procedure is executed, the software security policy information 5 is searched using the software name (“abc”) in the software information 151 as a key, and the corresponding software policy information 152 ( ("Software name: abc", "Version: 200", "Applicability: Mandatory", "Patch information: 00002", "Patch information application: Mandatory").

  In step 105, a version comparison procedure is executed, the version (“100”) in the software information 151 is compared with the version (“200”) in the software policy information 152, and the version in the software information 151 is greater than the version in the software policy information 152. If it is smaller (“100 <200”), the upgrade instruction issuance procedure in the next step 106 is executed.

  In step 106, a version upgrade command issuance procedure is executed, and when “applicability” in the software policy information 152 is “essential”, a version upgrade command is issued to the application target terminal 17, and the software is issued to the application target terminal 17. ("Abc") is forced to be upgraded.

  In step 107, the security patch information comparison procedure is executed, the patch information (“00001”) in the software information 151 is compared with the patch information (“00002”) in the software policy information 152, and the patch information in the software information 151 is the software information. If it is smaller than the patch information in the policy information 152 (“00001 <00002”), the process proceeds to the execution process of the security patch installation instruction issue procedure in the next step 108.

  In step 108, a security patch installation command issuance procedure is executed, and if patch information application is mandatory, a security patch installation command is issued to the application target terminal 17 and the installation of the security patch is forced to the application target terminal 17 To implement.

  In step 109, the device management information / software installation information update procedure is executed, and the content of the item in the device management information 6 is changed with the contents of the terminal information 153 (“device management CD: 2001”, “processing flag 1: done”). At the same time, the contents of the item in the software installation storage information 4 are updated with the contents of the software information 154 (“device management CD: 2001”, “software name: abc”, “version: 200”).

  Next, a processing operation example according to the present invention of the software approval / non-approval check function 2 in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The software approval / non-approval check function 2 in FIG. 1 performs the following procedure shown in FIG. 3 to forcibly uninstall installation-prohibited software and forcibly install standard software, and install unapproved software. If so, a new license is allocated within the range of the number of unused licenses.

  First, in step 201, a software approval / non-approval check instruction check procedure is executed, and terminal information 250 of the application target terminal 18 to which the software approval / non-approval check function 2 is applied is acquired from the device management information 6.

  Next, in step 202, a software installation information acquisition procedure is executed, and the device management CD and the MAC address of the terminal information 250 of the application target terminal 18 are used to obtain the information via the commercially available PC information collection tool 14 of FIG. The installed software information 251 is acquired from the registry information in the application target terminal 18.

  In step 203, a software installation information update procedure is executed to update the software installation storage information 4 based on the contents of the software information 251.

  In step 204, the software configuration information acquisition procedure is executed, the software configuration information 5 is searched using the standard software configuration NO of the terminal information 250 as a key, and the software configuration information 252 is acquired.

  In step 205, an installation prohibited software confirmation procedure is executed to check whether or not software whose application flag is prohibited in the software configuration information 252 is installed with reference to the software configuration information 251, and the installation prohibited software is checked. If the installation is confirmed, the process proceeds to a forced uninstall command issuance procedure in step 206.

  In step 206, a forced uninstallation command issuance procedure is executed, a forced uninstallation command is issued to the application target terminal 18, and the installation prohibited software is forcibly uninstalled.

  In step 207, a standard software confirmation procedure is executed, and it is confirmed by referring to the software information 251 whether software for which the applicability flag is mandatory in the software configuration information 252 is installed. If the installation is confirmed, the process proceeds to the next step 208 for issuing a forced installation command and updating the software license management information.

  In step 208, a forced installation command issuance and software license management information update procedure is executed, a forced installation command is issued to the application target terminal 18, the uninstalled software is forcibly installed, and the application target terminal The software license management information 13 is updated according to the contents of the 18 software license usage information 253.

  In step 209, the software license management information acquisition procedure is executed, the software license management information 13 is searched using the device management CD of the application target terminal 18 as a key, and the license use permission flag is permitted for the application target terminal 18. The software license usage information 254 is acquired.

  In step 210, an unapproved software confirmation procedure is executed, and unapproved software that does not exist in the software license usage information 254 is confirmed in the software information 251, and if unapproved software is confirmed, an unused license in the next step 211 is obtained. Proceed to the number counting procedure.

  In step 211, the procedure for counting the number of unused licenses is executed, and the software license usage information 255 is acquired from the software license management information 13 using the software name and version of the unapproved software confirmed in the unapproved software confirmation 210 as a key. Count the number of unused licenses for which the permission flag is blank.

  In step 212, an unused license presence / absence procedure is executed. If “the number of unused licenses ≠ 0”, the process proceeds to the license allocation procedure in step 213. If “the number of unused licenses = 0”, step 214 is executed. Proceed to the procedure for issuing a forced uninstall command in.

  In step 213, a license allocation procedure is executed, the software license management information 13 is updated according to the software license usage information 256, and the application target terminal 18 is permitted to use the license.

  In step 214, a forced uninstallation instruction procedure is executed, a forced uninstallation instruction is issued to the application target terminal 18, and unapproved software is forcibly executed.

  In step 215, the device management information / software installation information update procedure is executed to update the device management information 6 according to the contents of the terminal information 257 and update the software installation storage information 4 according to the contents of the software information 258.

  Next, a processing operation example according to the present invention of the software usage status management function 3 in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

  The software usage status management function 3 in FIG. 1 performs the following procedure shown in FIG. 4, so that the usage time of each software in each application target terminal is less than the predetermined minimum usage time for each software, It judges that the corresponding software is not necessary, and forcibly uninstalls it to release the software license.

  First, in step 301, the software usage status check instruction procedure is executed, and the terminal information 350 of the application target terminal 19 to which the software usage status management function 3 is applied is obtained by referring to the device management information 6.

  Next, in step 302, the software usage time acquisition procedure is executed, and the software usage time is collected from the log information of the application target terminal 19 using the device management CD and the MAC address in the terminal information 350 of the application target terminal 19. The software usage time 351 is acquired.

  In step 303, the software minimum usage time acquisition procedure is executed, the software configuration information 7 is searched using the standard software configuration NO as a key, and the software configuration information 352 is acquired.

  In step 304, a software usage time comparison procedure is executed, the usage time in the software usage time 351 is compared with the minimum usage time in the software configuration information 352, and the usage time in the software usage time 351 is determined from the minimum usage time in the software configuration information 352. When the number is small, the process proceeds to the process of the forced uninstall command issuance procedure in step 305.

  In step 305, a forced uninstall command issuance procedure is executed, a forced uninstall command is issued to the application target terminal 19, and the software is forcibly uninstalled.

  In step 306, the software license information update procedure is executed to release the software license, so that the license use permission flag in the software license use information 353 is blanked, and the software license management information 13 is updated.

  In step 307, the device management information / software installation information update procedure is executed to update the device management information 6 according to the contents in the terminal information 354 and update the software installation storage information 4 according to the contents in the software information 355.

  As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5E, in the software management system 8 of this example, the security policy application function 1 forcibly applies, for example, the security policy of the software in the personal computer, and the software authorization / Use the non-approval check function 2 to check the installation status of software on the PC, forcibly install standard software or forcibly uninstall installation-prohibited software, and check the usage time of software on the PC to minimize the usage time. Forcibly uninstall the software that does not meet the requirements.

  By such processing of the security policy application function 1 and the software approval / non-approval check function 2, the security level of the installed software can be kept constant, and the reliability of the computer device in which the software is installed is improved. It becomes possible. In addition, the processing of the software approval / non-approval check function 2 and the software usage status management function 3 makes it possible to appropriately allocate software licenses and improve the accuracy of license management.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the example demonstrated using FIGS. 1-5E, In the range which does not deviate from the summary, various changes are possible. For example, in this example, a personal computer (PC) is used as the application target terminals 17 to 19 as computer apparatuses to be monitored, but a PDA or the like may be used.

  Further, in this example, each of the information in the software installation storage information 4, software security policy information 5, device management information 6, software configuration information 7, and software license management information 13 is operated by operation from the management terminal 11 via the network. Although setting and storage are performed, software installation storage information 4, software security policy information 5, device management information 6, software configuration information 7, software license management is performed by an operation with an input device provided in the software management system 8 itself. Each information in the information 13 may be set and stored.

  Also, the computer configuration of the system of this example may be a computer configuration without a keyboard or optical disk drive. In this example, an optical disk is used as a recording medium. However, an FD (Flexible Disk) or the like may be used as a recording medium. As for the program installation, the program may be downloaded and installed via a network via a communication device.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the software management system which concerns on this invention. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing operation according to the present invention of a security policy application function in the software management system of FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart showing a first half of a processing operation example according to the present invention of a software approval / non-approval check function in the software management system of FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a second half of a processing operation example according to the present invention of a software approval / non-approval check function in the software management system of FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of a processing operation according to the present invention of a software usage status management function in the software management system of FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of the software installation storage information in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of the software security policy information in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of the apparatus management information in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of the software structure information in FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structural example of the software license management information in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  1: Security policy application function, 2: Software approval / non-approval check function, 3: Software usage status management function, 4: Software installation storage information, 5: Software security policy information, 6: Device management information, 7: Software configuration information 8: Software management system (security policy application and software usage status management system), 9: Information system department, 10: Administrator, 11: Management terminal, 12: Software license management system, 13: Software license management information, 14: Commercially available PC information collection tool, 15: user department, 16: user, 17-19: application target terminal.

Claims (3)

A software management system for accessing a target computer device connected via a network and managing the normality of software installed in the target computer device by programmed computer processing,
As a means of performing programmed computer processing,
Read and refer to the security policy information that is set in advance for each software and is registered in the storage device, and determines whether the software needs to be updated for each security level, and then refers to the target computer device that has installed the software. for,
A security policy applying means for executing a security level update process for the software based on the security policy information set for the software;
Read and refer to a list of software that is set in advance for the target computer device and registered in the storage device and that is permitted to be installed on the target computer device, and forcibly install the permitted software on the target computer device and Software approval / non-approval check means to perform forced uninstallation of unauthorized software,
Reads the minimum usage time information of the software set in advance for each software and registered in the storage device, and compares it with the usage time of the software in the target computer device in which the software is installed. A software management system comprising at least one of software usage status management means for executing forced uninstallation of the software from the target computer device if the usage time is not satisfied. A system software management method for accessing a target computer device connected via a network and managing normality of software installed in the target computer device by programmed computer processing,
As means for executing programmed computer processing, it has at least one of security policy application means, software approval / non-approval check means, and software usage status management means,
The security policy application means
Read and refer to the security policy information that is set in advance for each software and is registered in the storage device, and determines whether the software needs to be updated for each security level, and then refers to the target computer device that has installed the software. for,
Based on the security policy information set for the software, update the security level for the software,
The software approval / non-approval checking means is
Read and refer to the list information of software that is set in advance for the target computer device and registered in the storage device and that is permitted to be installed on the target computer device.
Executes forced installation of permitted software and forced uninstallation of unauthorized software on the target computer device,
The software usage status management means
Read the minimum usage time information of the software set in advance for each software and registered in the storage device, and compare it with the usage time of the software in the target computer device in which the software is installed, and the minimum usage time A software management method comprising: forcibly uninstalling the software from the target computer device if the usage time is not satisfied.   The program for functioning a computer as each means in the software management system in Claim 1.

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