We would like to see applications that are hidden be detected by the WMI inventory that Patch Manager performs. We have tested a WMI inventory using Spiceworks and the hidden application(s) that we have installed are shown in the results, but not when inventorying with Patch Manager.
We install some applications as hidden so that users do not find them in Programs and Features and question what they are or try to remove them if they have privileges. But we also want to be able to report on which systems have these installed for verification of installation or to find problems with the installation package.
In Patch Manager, if a program has HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\ProgramName with a REG_DWORD value SystemComponent 0x00000001, then the program will not show when inventoried by Patch Manager.
