analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts

analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up. It costs 79 tokens per session (2,635 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts, MIT.

A procedure for reading the Windows Amcache registry file, which records information about programs and drivers present on a computer. It extracts application details and helps build an investigation timeline.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it during digital forensics to investigate installed or portable programs, driver activity, deleted executables, and possible insider or malware activity.
Why use it?
It provides evidence about software that existed on a Windows system, including some programs whose files were later deleted, while helping distinguish presence from stronger proof of execution.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it during digital forensics to investigate installed or portable programs, driver activity, deleted executables, and possible insider or malware activity.

Compare 6 skills from other repositories ↓
Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up --skill analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/youngmaidainon/agent-level-up/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 79 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,635 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin 80% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00079 $0.02635
Opus 5 $0.00039 $0.01318
Sonnet 5 $0.00016 $0.00527
Haiku 4.5 $0.00008 $0.00264

Measured 8d ago against content hash f8785cc7e2bc, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-11, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 8d ago.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 1 executable file (scripts/agent.py), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

80% identical to analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts — 28 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

cyber-security/ctf/analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts/SKILL.md · 254 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 254 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Analyzing Windows Amcache Artifacts

When to Use

  • Determining which programs have existed or executed on a Windows system during incident response
  • Correlating SHA-1 hashes from Amcache against known malware databases (VirusTotal, CIRCL, MISP)
  • Building an application installation and execution timeline for forensic investigations
  • Identifying deleted executables that leave traces in Amcache even after file removal
  • Investigating insider threats by documenting which portable or unauthorized applications were present
  • Analyzing driver loading history to detect rootkits or malicious kernel modules

Do not use as sole proof of program execution. Amcache proves file existence and metadata registration, but ShimCache (AppCompatCache) and Prefetch provide stronger execution evidence. Use all three artifacts together for conclusive analysis.

Prerequisites

  • A forensic image or live triage copy of C:\Windows\appcompat\Programs\Amcache.hve (and associated .LOG1, .LOG2 transaction logs)
  • Eric Zimmerman's AmcacheParser (AmcacheParser.exe) downloaded from https://ericzimmerman.github.io/
  • Eric Zimmerman's Timeline Explorer for viewing parsed CSV output
  • Optionally: Registry Explorer for manual hive inspection
  • A SHA-1 whitelist of known-good executables (e.g., NSRL hashset) for filtering
  • .NET 6+ runtime installed (required by current EZ tools)
  • Write access to an output directory for CSV results

Workflow

Step 1: Acquire the Amcache.hve File

Extract the Amcache hive from a forensic image or live system:

# From a live system (requires elevated privileges and raw copy tool)
# Amcache.hve is locked by the system; use a raw disk copy tool
# Option A: FTK Imager - mount image and navigate to:
# C:\Windows\appcompat\Programs\Amcache.hve
# Also collect: Amcache.hve.LOG1, Amcache.hve.LOG2

# Option B: Using KAPE for automated triage collection
kape.exe --tsource C: --tdest D:\Evidence\%m --target Amcache

# Option C: From a mounted forensic image (E: = mounted image)
copy "E:\Windows\appcompat\Programs\Amcache.hve" D:\Evidence\
copy "E:\Windows\appcompat\Programs\Amcache.hve.LOG1" D:\Evidence\
copy "E:\Windows\appcompat\Programs\Amcache.hve.LOG2" D:\Evidence\

Read the full file on GitHub · 254 lines

Files

What ships with it

2 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 8d ago First seen · 254 lines · 79 tokens per session scan A f8785cc7e2bc

Subscribe to this mod's changes

analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts is a skill published in the GitHub repository Youngmaidainon/Agent-Level-Up (3 stars, last pushed 17d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 79 tokens to every session and 2,635 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 80% identical to analyzing-windows-amcache-artifacts, differing in 28 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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