Watcher - free integrity checker

Found this little gem on SnapFiles and love it. It runs at Windows start and does a fast check of key points for changes, then shows you what's changed (includes both registry and files) with options to Google any entry and revert registry changes and added files (includes drivers and services). Very nice little program See the website for screenshots. It can also do a full scan (which still doesn't take very long) on demand.
http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~legoland/minuscule/watcher/

Here's the list of what all it checks..
http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~legoland/minuscule/watcher/misc.html#Check list

 

It's a good programme. I mentioned it here https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=86932&highlight=watcher

 

"I mentioned it here ...." which btw was a very nice post bch.
No loss of credit for you Notok.

GF

 

Ah, lol, well it deserves it's own thread anyway, IMO.

 

Notok

IYO, what are it's strengths compared to other free on-demand integrity checkers?

Are there any advantages over "real-time" integrity checkers?

Does Watcher only spot check the files, as the full scan did seem very fast?

 

I would say it's main advantage is it's convenience and speed, it runs at startup and works quickly. It does a CRC32 check of files in system areas, alerts you to new/changed files and processes in memory, and new/changed registry areas. It doesn't do a full check, but just key points. It's no replacment for other seucurity software, but it's a very handy tool to have. It only runs at startup and then shuts down, so no continual resource usage.

 

Thanks for the info Notok. Looks like it's a great little tool to have!

 

Yes I also use Watcher and find it to be an excellent addition, and at no cost to performance (or wallet ) since it only runs at boot-time or on-demand. The developer has recently taken a full time job so I doubt there will be many updates to it for a bit, but it is quite stable and useful even now, and he did just release a 1.11 version that addresses some bugs and adds some nice new features (some of which I helped with).

http://www.h5.dion.ne.jp/~legoland/minuscule/watcher/download.html

 

Thanks to all who brought this excellent program to my attention. It is simply superb! Best program I have put on my computer in many months.

 

After reading peoples very enthusiastic post about Watcher, i thought i'd find out more. After visiting the website i decided it might be worth trying it out.

Well i've had it installed for nearly a week now, and useful it certainly is ! It's alerted me to several changed items that no other App has done. Nothing untoward fortunately, but nontheless very reassuring to have in the arsenal against potential nasties.

So another convert for Watcher in me, and i would also recommend to others too.


StevieO

 

I must say that Watcher's alert notification (an animated spider vigorously humping a No Smoking sign in my System Tray) is hard to overlook.

Just today Watcher alerted me to 2 potentially obnoxious changes that I might well have missed.

 

The online helpfile doesn't say which checksum 'Watcher' uses. Anyone know?

 

It says it checks the CRC, so I assume it's CRC32.

 

Thanks Notok! I must have missed that. Oh dear, CRC32? That's not going to keep the nasties at bay. I was hoping for better than MD5! Oh well, its only a freebie so I suppose any complaints would be churlish.

 

You may be happier with Sentinel, then - http://www.runtimeware.com/ which also integrates your antivirus and automatically scans anything new or changed. It doesn't show you the same kind of report, however, or allow you to Google or undo the same way. You might try both, however.. I like Watcher for new things, Sentinel for changed. If you're willing to shell out a few more dollars, ADInf may even be more to your liking.