Program that monitors changes to files & registry?

[Curley_Boy 0]

I don't even know if such a program exists but I need something that monitors and logs changes made to the registry and when files are modified or created on the HD.

 

As we all know one of the main problems with Windows is the junk left behind on disk and in the registry when programs are uninstalled (Only one program springs to mind that does a near 100% job of cleaning itself up properly, and out of the 1000's of apps that run on Win32 I think thats pretty poor!).

 

Commercial cleanup software is never any good often doing only a slighty better job than the standard uninstallers do...

 

So here's what I need this 'hypothetical' program to do:

 

Log changes to registry and modification or creation of files on disk.

Have an easy method of viewing/sorting logged data. (ie plain txt files are often too messy to read). In terms of sorting something along the lines of:

 

Organise logged changes by date: last month,last week, today, this user session etc (per user session probably the most important here).

 

What times were the changes made (even down to seconds could be handy in terms of accuracy here aswell).

 

Per application logging. It's no good only knowing when changes were made I would also need to know WHICH program made which changes.

 

And (obviously) the program shouldn't make a mess of the registry and be a bind to clean up itself should I decide its not what I'm looking for.

 

Any ideas? compatibility wise anything that will run on NT4/2k/XP (since thats the mix of machines I have on the network). Ideas much appriciated, Thanks.

[ViolentGreen 0]

Hmmm. Didn't 98 have a feature like that? Nowhere near that advanced though. It was useful if you'd run it on a regular basis, especially before and after installing and uninstalling.

[Sampson 0]

Look at System Mechanic. (iolo.com). It can do a lot of what you are asking for.

[Jerry Atrik 0]

norton system works will also.

[CUViper 0]

Take a look at FileMon and RegMon from SysInternals:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/utilities.shtml

 

Though I think this is not something that you'll want to leave running all the time - even in just a minute, there are TONS of access to files and the registry...

[Curley_Boy 0]

I already use many sysinternals utils regmon and process explorer mainly, however these are a bit of a blunt instrument for what I tend to use them for, not ideally suited to the job.

 

I will try some of the other links provided, thanks for the replies everyone.

[sergejru 0]

PC Activity Monitor Lite is necessary to you.

 

PC Acme Lite™ works under Windows 2000/XP operating systems. All data collected by the monitoring are saved to the encrypted log file located on the user's machine. Monitoring program works in background, transparent for the user, on the level of OS kernel.

 

You can buy it with discount here http://aonid.biz/utilities/security_and_encryption/1426-66/

total $6.29 discount is 30%