File Logger

An antivirus program can't protect you from your own mistakes, or other system changes which don't necessarily involve malicious files. A good management of your computer can keep it healthy even without and AV, and one way to do this is to monitor changes. This is exactly what File Logger aims to do for you.

Before you can even go through the setup process, let alone run the application, it's best to make sure that you have .NET Framework installed. What's more, it's advisable to run both the installer and the application with administrator privileges so it can perfectly integrate in your system and be able to read changes later on.

It spends most of its time hidden in the tray area, with interaction bringing up the main window. What's more, you can make it run with Windows from the settings panel so that it's up and running by the time you reach the desktop. This way you ensure full monitoring of all file operations in case they're not quite visible on startup.

Little effort is required on your behalf once the application starts. The main window is where you find options to view full or custom report, and access system information. This latter options opens up the DirectX panel which can normally be accessed by calling up the "dxdiag" function in the Run tool.

Reports are neatly displayed in a table layout. Color differentiation makes it easy to tell which files got removed, renamed, or created, while the status bar shows the total of each section. Column headers show type of operation, filename and path, time, and date. A report can either be for an entire runtime, or custom period. One of the biggest downsides is the lack of an export option for your reports.

All things considered, we can state that File Logger comes with good intentions, but it's because of some programming issues that you might be tempted to look for alternatives. However, it's perfectly capable of reading and reporting almost all system changes to help you identify mistakes or malicious activities.