Windows Service Auditor

Being fully aware of what causes potential problems with various Windows Services can be somewhat tricky, even though Microsoft has provided power users and system administrators with various useful tools such as Event Viewer or Auditpol.

That said, if you’re willing to opt for a third-party alternative to these tools, you can use a nifty, little tool appropriately called Windows Service Auditor. It’s designed to help you figure out what exactly is causing your essential Windows Services by shining a bit of light on why they stop, start, or update themselves.

Straight off the bat, here’s what you should know: Windows Service Auditor is a small utility that requires no configuration and, even better, it’s portable. What makes this app remarkably useful for those who require advanced knowledge on this particular fact is that it allows you to see what exactly stopped a Windows Service, at what particular time did a certain service start, why has it been deleted, or if the service in question encountered any errors after it was started.

Another great aspect of the app is just how simple it is to use. As mentioned before, it doesn’t require much know-how and effort on your part. You just download the archive, run the app, and use the not-that-flashy GUI guide you through the whole process.

The app’s main window is divided into three important parts. At the top, you have a basic toolbar that offers you quick access to some of the app’s main features. In the middle, there’s a Services panel that displays all the Windows Services in alphabetical order.

The bottom part of the app’s main window is where you can actually see all the events associated with the selected Windows Service. It’s worth noting that you can also view various details associated with the various events by double-clicking them.

Since the large majority of service events will not show the account that performed the operation, you’ll have to manually enable the auditing process. To achieve this, go to the Services menu (at the top of the window), and select Enable Auditing. From this point onward, all that’s left for you to do is go through the list of events and locate the specific information you’re after (all the detailed audit events and what exactly caused them to start, stop, or update).

To conclude, Windows Service Auditor is undoubtedly a very useful and easy to use application. It’s certain to come in handy to power users or system administrators for whom knowing the cause of various actions performed by Windows Services is of the utmost importance.