Re: How do you view the last date a file/folder was looked in (not modified)?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Zbikowski \(MSFT\)
  • Start date Start date
M

Mark Zbikowski \(MSFT\)

FAT keeps creation time and last-write-time. So there's no last-read time
or last-accessed time.
NTFS keep creation, last-write, and last-access time. There's no
last-read-time, per se.

Now, if you're using the explorer, it is incredibly easy to have it "access"
the file/directory and, thus,
update the time. Here are the steps to use if you want to be incredibly
careful:
1. Open an explorer window to the directory that contains the file/directory
you want to look at.
DO NOT MOVE THE MOUSE OVER THE FILE OR DIRECTORY IN THE WINDOW< 2. Select View/Details
DO NOT MOVE THE MOUSE OVER THE FILE OR DIRECTORY IN THE WINDOW<
Click to expand...
3. Right-click on the headings (say on the "Size" heading) to get a dropdown
of the fields you can
use.
DO NOT MOVE THE MOUSE OVER THE FILE OR DIRECTORY IN THE WINDOW<
Click to expand...
4. Click on More and up will come a dialog box for Choose Details, click the
checkbox on Date
Accessed and then OK.
DO NOT MOVE THE MOUSE OVER THE FILE OR DIRECTORY IN THE WINDOW<
Click to expand...
5. The display will now show the last time someone accessed the
file/directory.

The reason you have to avoid moving the mouse over things, is that the
explorer will then try to
extract information about what's under the cursor to show you. By
definition, that act of extraction will
change the last-access time.

It's much easier in CMD, however. If what you are looking for is
\bin\xyzzy, in CMD do:

dir /ta \bin\xyzzy*

This will display the time of last access for eveerything that matches
xyzzy*. Unlike ls in unix, to
CMD if you do a dir /ta \bin\dir, CMD will list the contents of that
directory, thus changing the
last-access time on it.

HTH
 
Thank you Mark!
-----Original Message-----
FAT keeps creation time and last-write-time. So there's no last-read time
or last-accessed time.
NTFS keep creation, last-write, and last-access time. There's no
last-read-time, per se.

Now, if you're using the explorer, it is incredibly easy to have it "access"
the file/directory and, thus,
update the time. Here are the steps to use if you want to be incredibly
careful:
1. Open an explorer window to the directory that contains the file/directory
you want to look at. WINDOW<
2. Select View/Details WINDOW<
3. Right-click on the headings (say on the "Size" heading) to get a dropdown
of the fields you can
use. WINDOW<
4. Click on More and up will come a dialog box for Choose Details, click the
checkbox on Date
Accessed and then OK. WINDOW<
5. The display will now show the last time someone accessed the
file/directory.

The reason you have to avoid moving the mouse over things, is that the
explorer will then try to
extract information about what's under the cursor to show you. By
definition, that act of extraction will
change the last-access time.

It's much easier in CMD, however. If what you are looking for is
\bin\xyzzy, in CMD do:

dir /ta \bin\xyzzy*

This will display the time of last access for eveerything that matches
xyzzy*. Unlike ls in unix, to
CMD if you do a dir /ta \bin\dir, CMD will list the contents of that
directory, thus changing the
last-access time on it.

HTH

--
Disclaimer: This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers
no rights.





.
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top