Free File Attribute Changer

Changing the dates for a file on your system could come in handy in certain circumstances but doing so yourself in Windows is quite troublesome. Fortunately, there are cost-free applications out there that are meant to carry out this task without the hassle of all the additional research. Free File Attribute Changer is one of them.

Focusing on speed and ease of use, Free File Attribute Changer does not require installation. Once you run it, its main window is revealed, providing instructions on how to add one or more files to the list. For your convenience, drag and drop operations are supported.

It's important to highlight from the start that the name of the application is somewhat deceiving, as it cannot modify a file's attributes (read-only, hidden, system, or the advanced attributes - indexed, archive, compressed, encrypted). What it can do is change the date and the time stamps of files.

The main window comprises options to manually edit the creation, last modification or last access dates. You can change just parts of the date and time stamps. For instance, it's possible to modify the day, the month, the year, hours, minutes, or seconds individually.

Another option is to copy the stamp from one of the three date fields to another. Hitting the save button applies the changes instantly.

Free File Attribute Changer also comes with a secondary window that enables you to create two separate lists of files and copy the date attributes from one list to another, file by file. Evidently, the number of files in both lists must be identical.

Free File Attribute Changer is easy to use and simple but, despite its name, it is not a full-featured attribute changer. Unlike its competitors, it can only tamper with the date and the time stamps of files, although the batch copying feature should come in handy. Nevertheless, context menu integration and support for other attributes than the date and time stamps are surely on the wishlist of potential users.