Keep a log of file access time

Question

So we have a few (or more, no one knows) apps written by someone who has now left, these apps access Microsoft Access Databases stored on this developers old PC, which in turn read from our Production SQL database. Now to track all these programs down, and what time they are run, I'd like to keep a log of a files access time, is this possible to do? Obviously if I read the access time, I would modify it. We can't rely on the modified time, as some Access Databases are just linked tables to the SQL Database.

Prefer to do this in C#, but it doesn't matter. Just need to track down whats running where, once I've found them, they can be modified.

Thanks.

Answer 1

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.io.filesystemwatcher.aspx

public class Watcher

{

public static void Main()
{
Run();

}

[PermissionSet(SecurityAction.Demand, Name="FullTrust")]
public static void Run()
{
    string[] args = System.Environment.GetCommandLineArgs();

    // If a directory is not specified, exit program.
    if(args.Length != 2)
    {
        // Display the proper way to call the program.
        Console.WriteLine("Usage: Watcher.exe (directory)");
        return;
    }

    // Create a new FileSystemWatcher and set its properties.
    FileSystemWatcher watcher = new FileSystemWatcher();
    watcher.Path = args[1];
    /* Watch for changes in LastAccess and LastWrite times, and
       the renaming of files or directories. */
    watcher.NotifyFilter = NotifyFilters.LastAccess | NotifyFilters.LastWrite
       | NotifyFilters.FileName | NotifyFilters.DirectoryName;
    // Only watch text files.
    watcher.Filter = "*.txt";

    // Add event handlers.
    watcher.Changed += new FileSystemEventHandler(OnChanged);
    watcher.Created += new FileSystemEventHandler(OnChanged);
    watcher.Deleted += new FileSystemEventHandler(OnChanged);
    watcher.Renamed += new RenamedEventHandler(OnRenamed);

    // Begin watching.
    watcher.EnableRaisingEvents = true;

    // Wait for the user to quit the program.
    Console.WriteLine("Press \'q\' to quit the sample.");
    while(Console.Read()!='q');
}

// Define the event handlers.
private static void OnChanged(object source, FileSystemEventArgs e)
{
    // Specify what is done when a file is changed, created, or deleted.
   Console.WriteLine("File: " +  e.FullPath + " " + e.ChangeType);
}

private static void OnRenamed(object source, RenamedEventArgs e)
{
    // Specify what is done when a file is renamed.
    Console.WriteLine("File: {0} renamed to {1}", e.OldFullPath, e.FullPath);
}

}