Manual Operation of Hermetic File Monitor

Adding a folder to be monitored

To add a folder you wish to monitor click on the 'Add folder to monitor' button and select a folder in the usual way. A window such as the following then appears:

For manual operation ignore what is in the 'Automatic operation' frame.

Check the 'Include subfolders' checkbox if you wish to monitor all files in all subfolders (and their subfolders) of the folder selected.

Check the 'Exclude top-level files' checkbox if you wish to exclude all files in the folder selected. It is not permitted to check this box and leave the first box unchecked because then no files would be monitored.

If you wish to monitor only files with a certain file extension, e.g. 'xls', then state this extension and check the third checkbox. To monitor all files in a folder, not just those with a particular file extension, leave the file extension textbox empty.

If the folder or a subfolder contains very large files which you don't expect to change (e.g., graphics, audio or video files larger than one megabyte) then you can save some time (when a folder is checked) by telling the program not to check these by setting a skip-size value in MB and checking the 'Skip files larger than' checkbox.

If you click on the 'Save current settings as default' button then these settings will be used whenever a new folder is selected for monitoring.

Finally click on the 'Confirm' button. The window will close and the digital signatures of the files selected for monitoring will be recorded.

If this is the second folder added then the main screen will look like this:

Number of folders and files which can be monitored at one time

There is no practical limit on the number of folders which can be monitored at any one time.

When Hermetic File Monitor records the digital signatures of the files in a folder (and possibly its subfolders) it needs (a) to read in the entire contents of each of the files and (b) to write about 90 bytes for each file to a digital signature file (for that folder). When it checks the folder it needs (a) again to read in the entire contents of each of the files and (b) to read the entire digital signature file. Thus the speed of the program is inversely proportional to (a) the total of the sizes of the files being monitored and (b) the size of the digital signature file (which is itself directly proportional to the number of files in the folder and possibly its subfolders). If there are 1000 files then the digital signature file will be about 88 KB (quickly read and written). If, however, there are 10,000 files then the digital signature file will be about 879 KB, which would cause the program to run more slowly. Thus it is recommended, when addng a folder, first to check the number of files in that folder (and optionally its subfolders). Monitoring a folder with over 10,000 files is not really recommended, though possible.

Updating digital signatures of files in a folder

When a folder is added the digital signatures of the files in that folder (and optionally subfolders) are recorded. Subsequently you can update the digital signatures by (i) selecting that folder in the drop-down list and (b) clicking on the 'Update digital signatures of files in folder shown' button.

Clicking on the button at the right of that button will cause the digital signatures in all folders to be updated.

Checking whether the files in a folder have changed

At any time after a folder has been added you can check whether any file in that folder has changed, or a file has been added or deleted, by (i) selecting that folder in the drop-down list and (b) clicking on the 'Check for modified files in folder shown' button. A report will then be given. Here are two examples:

Folder C:\temp\ Digital signatures were last recorded at 2008-11-18 4:17:01 PM. No files were changed, added or removed.

Folder C:\temp\ Digital signatures were last recorded at 2008-11-18 4:17:01 PM. File changed: C:\temp\single.htm Old: 2008-07-29 8:49:38 PM 9,081 bytes New: 2008-11-18 4:21:47 PM 9,081 bytes File changed: C:\temp\input\finances.xls Old: 2008-11-18 4:16:23 PM 1,331,200 bytes New: 2008-11-18 4:20:29 PM 1,329,664 bytes Files changed: 2

Clicking on the button at the right of that button will cause all folders to be checked.

Editing a folder which is being monitored

After a folder has been added you can change the settings by (i) selecting that folder in the drop-down list and (b) clicking on the 'Edit folder shown' button.

Listing folders

Click on the 'List' button to get a list of folders currently being monitored and the details of each.

Output to a report file

To have the report written to a file specify the report file by checking the 'Report to file' checkbox then specifying a file in the usual way.

If the 'Append to file' checkbox is checked then the next report will be appended to the current contents of the report file.

This report file is independent of the report files which are generated upon automatic checking.

Reinitializing

If you reinitialize then all folders will be cease to be monitored, all recorded digital signatures willbe erased and all report files will be deleted. Do this only if (a) you wish to start afresh or (b) some file has been corrupted and is causing an error message.

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