The report on the hardware and software that makes up your Mac has been around forever. But that report, accessible via the Apple menu’s About This Mac menu item, is constantly evolving.

One particularly useful element of this report is the what and when of all the software you’ve got installed on your Mac. If you’ve not encountered this, here’s how you get there:

• Click on the Apple menu (leftmost menu on the menu bar)
• The first item on this menu says About This Mac. Press and hold the option key and that item changes to System Information…
• Select System Information…

When the report appears, scroll down on the left-hand sidebar and, under Software, select Installations. The scrolling list that appears on the right shows every piece of software you’ve installed on your Mac. You can click on a column header to sort your list by name, version number, source, or install date.

Of particular interest is the source column. Anything showing a source of Apple is likely safe, but are there items on the list that you don’t recognize marked as 3rd Party? Might be worth looking into those.

[Via MakeTechEasier.com]