1. A computer-implemented method of collecting and storing information about the programs installed on and the services provided by a computer for subsequent retrieval, comprising: (a) extracting from the computer information including, but not limited to, information about the computer operating system, hardware, and processor and storing the system information in a log file in a standardized language; (b) extracting from the computer executables information including, but not limited to, information about executables included in a defined set of folders stored on the computer and executables associated with services provided by the computer; (c) for each executable whose information is extracted, determining if the executable is associated with the operating system, and if it is determined that the executable is not associated with the operating system, storing information about the executable in the log file, the stored executable information including attributes determined by the executables, each executable including a plurality of associated attributes, the attributes including at least one attribute, other than a version number, in the standardized language; (d) extracting from the computer information regarding the application programs installed on the computer including linked executables and storing the application program information in the log file in a standardized language, the application program information including attributes determined by the application programs including the linked executables; and (e) deriving a signature for each of the executables, the signature being based on more than one of the plurality of attributes associated with the related executable and storing the resultant signatures in the log file in the standardized language.