Monitor Changes to a Directory on your Computer in Real Time - Method 1

If you have a specific folder on your computer that you want to monitor for changes such as adding files or folders, deleting files or folders or modifying files, you can do so using the free Directory Monitor app. Once you choose a folder and start the monitor, it will show you changes in real time as they occur. It will show the type of change, date & time of the change, and the file or folder that was affected. It will even work for subfolders. It's handy to use to monitor network shares. The pay for version will let you take actions on specific events such as run a batch file for example.

Here is a link where you can download the Directory Monitor app.
https://vovsoft.com/software/directory-monitor/

Here is link to another app you can use to monitor folders for changes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H3K3WpdI1s

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Closed Caption:

[Music]
hi in this video we're going to show you
a free tool you could use to monitor a
directory for changes in real time so
it's called directory monitor so there's
two versions there's an installable
version where you install like a program
and then there's a standalone or
portable version where you just download
the zip file extract it and run the exe
so there's nothing to install and then
they have a free version and a pay for
version so if you pay for it it's $19
and you get the upgrades you don't have
to see the nag screen all right so we're
using the free version here and it's the
portable version so we'll just double
click it to start
it all right so here's the nag screen
that you'll have to click on continue to
get pasted all right so what you want to
do is put in the directory you want to
monitor so I'm going to monitor This
Confidential files folder on the E
drive and you have include patterns and
exclude patterns so this is including
everything then it excludes zip files
and raar files by default and then down
here this is a pay for version uh you
could run specific files let's say maybe
upload something to an FTP site or run a
batch file based on a specific event so
you just pick your event your file and
then you create the action but you can't
do that in the free version okay so
let's go over to the folder here and
make some
changes all right let's do this for
example right actually first we have to
click on
start right so let's open this let's
make a
change save
it you can see this file has been
modified at this date and time and
here's the file
name let's delete this
folder remove that
folder like
so all right so this could come in handy
if you think you have something going on
in a specific folder and you want to
kind of monitor for changes or it's also
good for Network share so that's what
we're going to demonstrate now so I have
this folder shared so I'm going to go to
a different computer and then make some
changes then we'll come back and see
what shows up
here all right so we're on a different
computer in the shared folder here so
let's say we edit this file
again save
it let's make a new folder
like
so uh let's delete this file
here and let's see what happens if we
put something in a subfolder
here all right so let's go back to the
other computer and see what we
got all right so we have some modified
we have some added here for the new
folder uh rename rename again
here so there's the remote PC folder
that we renamed it to from new folder to
remote PC we deleted that PDF file added
a new text document here and then added
a new text document within this client
files subfolder actually right here and
then we renamed it to subfolder file
and this shows we modified the folder
itself so the only downside to this is
that it doesn't show the username so if
you are doing this on a network share
you'll be able to see what's going on
but you won't be able to see who did it
you'd have to come over and you know
maybe check out the file itself to see
who I added it or modified it and so
on but like I said before if you just
need to monitor a directory for changes
you think something weird might be going
on um this is a really good way to do so
all right so I will put a link in the
descript description where you can
download directory Monitor and you can
try it out for yourself all right thanks
for watching and be sure to subscribe
[Music]