Tech Shout!

Today, Solidcore Systems, a leading provider of change control software for critical systems, released a free downloadable software tool for tracking and analyzing changes occurring on Microsoft Windows desktops and laptops. This free software tool is called S3 Change Explorer, and has been designed to help information technology (IT) administrators quickly and easily troubleshoot Windows application problems by providing rich visualization capabilities that show, at-a-glance, what is changing on the system.

S3 Change Explorer is a lightweight software package that can be easily and manually installed or provisioned to a Windows-based PC or notebook. The program installs really fast after which it is able to provide immediate tracking and analysis of file system and registry changes.

Solidcore S3 Change Explorer provides clickable pull-down menus that allow users to filter change activity by category, user name and program name. The change timeline feature serves as the center point of the interface and allows users to zoom into change activity from a monthly view to a minute-by-minute view. A “Who & How” view enables users to quickly identify what users and processes are making changes within the selected time interval, and a “Details” view allows users to drill down into the individual objects that were changed within a selected time interval.

S3 Change Explorer also provides change tracking templates for Microsoft Office Outlook and Internet Explorer. These template views illustrate file changes made by Outlook or Internet Explorer, and can be used to identify malicious or unauthorized activity by these programs.

According to Bob Vieraitis, vice president of marketing for Solidcore, “Until now, there has not been an intuitive and easy-to-use tool for administrators to quickly gain visibility into real-time change activity. Solidcore S3 Change Explorer eliminates the unknown about what is changing on a Windows machine, and with point-and-click ease provides IT staff with the insight needed to quickly repair business-critical applications and performance problems on the desktop or laptop.”

S3 Change Explorer supports Windows 2000 service pack 4, Windows XP service packs 0,1 and 2, and Windows Server 2003 service pack 1. The software tool also requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and above and Flash Player 8.0 or higher.

Solidcore S3 Change Explorer is available as a free download from here.