Tracking file opens (RunCount)

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Native2904
Posts: 120
Joined: Mon Nov 22, 2021 8:36 pm

Tracking file opens (RunCount)

Post by Native2904 »

I’m exploring whether Everything can help track when files are opened (not just created/modified) across the whole system — similar to how Date Modified is reliably indexed via the USN Journal.
As far as I understand: Date Accessed depends entirely on NTFS’s own last-access tracking (disabled by default since Vista), and Run Count/Date Run only update when a file is opened through Everything itself or when an external app explicitly calls Everything_IncRunCountFromFileName.
Is there any lightweight, officially supported way to have Everything observe file-open events system-wide — from any application, not just Everything’s own UI — without running a separate always-on background listener (e.g. ETW-based)? Or is that fundamentally outside what Everything’s architecture is designed to do?
void
Developer
Posts: 20166
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Tracking file opens (RunCount)

Post by void »

There's no realistic/efficient way to do this.

Nothing is logged in the USN Journal when you open a file.

You're likely going to need a background listener to hook CreateFile calls.
Not something I really want to do in Everything.
-Not sure if something already exists.

is-open: