Sometimes you may want to keep taps on changes happening in a folder, for instance if the folder can be accessed by multiple users, if it is shared on a network, or if you want to check on the installation of a program to see what it does to a folder (e.g. the Windows folder).

FolderChangesView is a new program by Nirsoft that you can use for exactly that purpose.  Just download the program from the official program homepage and extract its contents to a location on your computer. You can also put it on a removable device like an USB Flash Drive or DVD, as it does not need to be installed on the target computer for you to use it.

When you start the program you are asked to pick a folder that you want to monitor. Included in the monitoring are all files and folders inside that folder.

The program furthermore will notice if files or folders are moved, deleted, created or modified in the folder and displays all changes in its interface more or less in realtime.

Here you see the name and path of the file or folder that has been modified, created or deleted. For files, the extension of the file is also recorded. FolderChangesView furthermore records the date and time of the first and last event of a particular file or folder in the monitored directory.

Please note that the program is not monitoring what is actually changing if a file has been modified, you only see that it has been changed.

Like many other Nirsoft applications, the program lets you create reports and save those as HTML files, and export the data as txt, xml or csv files for further processing or record keeping.

You can always change the program’s base folder with the F9 key or the selection of Options > Change Base Folder from the toolbar menu.