Monitoring win.ini etc

I monitor the system files in "sysedit" such as system.ini, win.ini by copying them in a folder monthly and using DOS "fc" to compare changes. Is this being too obsessive, any better ways? I've noted that system.dat and user.dat can keep the SAME size but they can change internally. How does one monitor them; "fc" gives non-ascii junk.

Call me nutty but once I noted 3 hidden files had suddenly disappeared and I get depressed over this -- regularly using chkdsk to monitor them. I hadn't un/installed anything recently.

Any comments? BTW, I noticed that there's a size change in WIN.INI during end of October --- prob. due to the daylight hours time change? Should one keep incremental backups of WIN.INI, SYSTEM.INI, AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, anything else? I'm always monitoring files in windows, windows\system, windows\temp, c:\ --- healthy?

Also a good idea to keep a list of programs in Add/Remove so you can spot anything strange suddenly installed, as well as Ctrl-Alt-Del apps list?

[javacool]

quoting: polo link=board=8;threadid=5270;start=0#34329 date=1038962011]
I monitor the system files in "sysedit" such as system.ini, win.ini by copying them in a folder monthly and using DOS "fc" to compare changes. Is this being too obsessive, any better ways? I've noted that system.dat and user.dat can keep the SAME size but they can change internally. How does one monitor them; "fc" gives non-ascii junk.

Total Commander was recommended in another thread for comparing two text files to see what had changed: http://www.ghisler.com/ (shareware)

Call me nutty but once I noted 3 hidden files had suddenly disappeared and I get depressed over this -- regularly using chkdsk to monitor them. I hadn't un/installed anything recently.

It isn't "nutty" to want to know what has changed in your system. Those files could have been deleted by the program that created them, or may have simply been temporary files of sorts for Windows.

Best regards,

-Javacool