How to monitor file changes in windows 7

[Muralidhar]

I am looking for some simple tools by which I can simply monitor what are the changes going on my system. I am having a small office setup of 20 pc which are connected to a windows server. I want to install a tool on every system that can give me report of changes done to each and every file with time. I had tried to find the same in windows server, but that looks a bit complicated to me. I want that on some specific system urgently. Is there any tool for the same. Some kind of file changes monitoring application.

[BillieJ]

I do not think sure. I am using a file comparison application here. It is a kind of advance file manager that allows me to compare two files and find out the changes among them. It is great for sorting out duplicate files from the system. My habit is to create a copy of every file and then edit them. That creates multiple copies in the system.

[JustineBB]

For that you can go for Windows Server Audit. This is a advance but really effective procedure in fixing out the problem you are facing. I will advice you to simply enable this feature and then try back. The settings once applied keeps a eye on every file in the system and gives you report on changes done to the same. There are advance guide on the web that can help you for the process. Server Audit works really well and gives appropriate output. It is a kind of real time tracking. There are some third party tools also for the same. You just need to enable the feature and that's all. You can the go inside the logs and find out information on the same. It works really well in terms of output and has great tracking ability. It is not at all complicated to use. Instead of tracking file changes separately in each of the system it is essential that you must simply use a central place to collect everything. You can then every day or at then end of week read out the file differences. This is helpful in keeping a eye on constant changes done to your system. Just try the same and then test back.

[-Deven-]

There are some third party tools available that can do the same. One of them is Real-Time Disk Change Monitor. It is not a very advance tool but nice enough to find out changes done on the hard drive. It is very lightweight and constantly scan everything. It is very simple to use.

[JyotiT]

The best tool that I found for this purpose is File Watcher Simple. A free and extremely easy to use application which can guide you for fixing the problem you are facing in terms of file scanning. It is very simple to use. The tool just monitor every file on your system and gives you the changes done to them. It will give you information on the current file status, events occurred on the same, type of file and the time of modification. So your job here is more easy to find out the system activities. You can keep a central place where you can keep all the log files and read them as needed. By this you can keep a watch on the system activities and user who are modifying the files without permission. It is one of the most easiest way to track activities on the file system. With simple tweaking options you can also manage different kind of stuff. There are some set of automatic action which also works for single purpose. Like you can verify the change which you had detected and create a alert for the same. So there it becomes more helpful in dealing with the problem.

[Panop]

I liked that tool. After your recommendation I had downloaded and install the same on my pc. It works fine. But the only issue here is that it is good for individual pc. For multiple system it does not allows you to keep your logs file at a centralized location. Still the application is superb.

[Shurod]

There are many applications for the same. I can list you a few names here. Like Moo File Monitor, FilePro, FileMon, FileAudit, etc. Among them FileAudit is the most versatile and advance tool. The tool just works on few set of settings and deliver a great way of locating file changes. It works really well and has no issue with performance also. With the help of this tool you can simply track files and audit report. You can generate simple reports which are easy to understand. It offers features like Real-Time Monitoring, Automatic Email Alerts, etc. It is advance software that works well on any system and has a great output. It is not a free tool. To use this you have to buy a license. There is a trail edition available on the web that can help you to understand the functioning and if you liked it then you can go for the full license.