Map every boundary
Inventory executables, DLL/COM classes, runtimes, services, databases, files and shares, registry, environment variables, network endpoints, printers, serial/hardware devices, drivers and licensing. Record version, location, owner, startup order and failure symptom.
Prove necessity
- Observe access during representative workflows.
- Compare working and clean environments.
- Remove or substitute one candidate only in a disposable test system.
- Classify required, conditional, build-only or incidental.
- Capture transitive and delayed dependencies.
Use executable dependency analysis, COM mapping, configuration recovery and the pillar.