How to filter system files in C#

Question

I am using FileSystemWatcher for tracking file system for any changes. But my customer does not want any system file change records. He just wants "changed by user" records. How can I do this?

Answer 1

I don't believe there's any way to do this in Win32 or .Net framework. You'd have to intercept file access in the kernel to provide such a service.

Answer 2

Subscribe for the FileSystemWatcher.Changed event and filter the files manually:

MyFolderWatcher.Changed += (s, e) => {
    if ((File.GetAttributes(e.FullPath) & FileAttributes.System) != FileAttributes.System)
        ; // Do something
}