List of installed programs/updates that can be uninstalled

Question

I know that all installed programs and updates can be found at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall
key in the registry.

But how can I differentiate between installed programs and installed updates?

Answer 1

I believe that updates have a value for the (Default) which generally begins with KB. A real install would have a DisplayName. Also, I would ignore things with SystemComponent set to 1.