How can I determine which framework was used to build a particular Windows desktop application?

Question

How can I determine which platform or programming language was used to build a particular Windows desktop application?

Answer 1

There are several ways to try and detect in which language a particular software was written. Usually, the tools that do that examine the PE Header and try to make an educated guess.

Sometimes authors compress/encrypt the PE in such way that makes this detection next to impossible.

There is an old tool called PEiD which can help you identify in which language was the software written.

Answer 2

The Dependency walker may also shed some light by showing all the dlls the application depends on, as well as the names of the exported methods.