If someone else is using your computer, or you need to see what changes have been made to files and folders within a certain period of time, you can use Nirsoft's convenient FolderChangesView application. Nirsoft is an excellent free software provider that provides excellent gadgets for your PC , and the best part is that they have never bundled junk software with programs like many other software vendors .
What is the folder change view?
FCV is a small standalone utility created by Nirsoft Labs that can easily monitor any changes in the folders of the entire disk drive. It will provide you with a complete list of all files that have been modified, created or deleted during the monitoring of the folder. In addition to allowing local drive monitoring, FCV also allows you to monitor drives that are being shared on the network with " read permissions " .
Download utility
When you are ready to start, you need to download the FolderChangesView utility from Nirsoft 's website . Just scroll to the bottom of the page and download the zip file containing the standalone executable file. After downloading the program, create a file named on the desktop FCV file folders (or placed in any position), then extract the contents to the folder in.
Start and use folders to change views
Since FCV is a standalone application, there is no need to install it. All you need to do is to open the folder where the extracted files are located and double-click the "FolderChangesView.exe" file. Keep in mind that you may need by clicking on the " Security Warning " window " Run " to allow the application to run button.
After opening the program, you will need to select the folder to be monitored, and then press the " OK " button. After pressing " OK " , the utility will automatically start monitoring your folder and all subfolders according to the parameters you define. For this example, we will choose to monitor the " Downloads " folder in Windows . By changing the destination folder, as shown in the figure below.
After selecting the folder to be monitored, you can also choose to edit the monitoring parameters by changing any other settings shown in the screenshot. We won’t use them for now, but you can experiment later. These settings will not change any files on your computer, so you don’t need to worry about messing up anything by entering " wrong " settings.
Make some changes!
Now that we have defined the folders to be monitored, it is time to make one or two changes to see how the information is displayed. For this example, I will delete files from the folder, add a new folder, and then move the existing files into the new folder.
The changes made in the " downloads " folder monitored by FCV are:
- "Paragon Partition Ma..." was deleted
- Created and modified " New Folder " (modification comes from name change)
- Deleted and created "VirtualBox-4.3.20-9699..." . This indicates that the file has been moved because it was created in the " new folder " and deleted from the original " downloads " folder.
- "Oracle_VM_VirtualBox..." has the same changes as the previous file because it has also been moved.
What information is displayed?
The utility will provide you with comprehensive detailed information about all changes in the folder. If you scroll to the right side of the " Monitoring " window, you will see detailed information about the file, including:
- file name
- Modify count
- Create count
- Delete count
- Full path (location of the file in question)
- Extension (the extension of the file recorded by the monitor)
- File owner
- First time event (This column and the columns next to it will let you know when the first and last changes were made to the file. For example, if you are working on a Word document and want to view the file for how long, this is useful. The file is in use.)
- Last activity
- File size
- Modification time ( different from # 8 and 9 because it tells you when the file attributes, name and other details were modified rather than when it was accessed.
- Creation time
- Attributes
If you want to view all this information about a single file in a window without having to scroll to the side, you can right-click on any entry and press " Properties " . (No file attributes)
wrap up
Now that you know how to monitor file changes on your PC , you will no longer have to wonder what others are doing on your computer. You can also track any changes that the malware may make to track and eliminate it. Feel free to use the settings and change the watched folder to see what is happening. If you want to delete the program, it does not need to be installed, so it is as easy as deleting the FCV folder.