What Changed - Checks the registry/files for changes.

[Easybeat]

What Changed is a useful utility especially to determine if an app writes setting to the registry.

Quote from the Website:-

What Changed is a simple utility that searches for modified files and registry entries. It is useful for checking program installations. There are two steps for using What Changed: 1) First, take a snapshot of the state of the system 2) Second, run What Changed again to see the differences from the previous snapshot.

http://www.vista-software.com/tools.htm#wc

Simply download the executable and run. It saves a text file to the directory it is in which can be several Mb in size so make sure you have space if you are on a flash drive. Checks can take sometime if you are running a full scan.

[Andrew Lee]

Thanks! Posted to the database. But I feel that RegShot is still much faster, though What Changed has some nice features, like the ability to specify which parts of the registry you want to scan, and the ability to automatically copy modified files to a particular folder.

[Midas]

Very old topic update: I have to strongly agree with Mr. Lee, after my latest test of WhatChanged (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=634) took half an hour to finish (with the options checked in the screenshot below; please note, it has no other settings, e.g., for exclusions) in Windows 7 Enterprise x64 SP1. While it was running, it also consumed a whole core of i7 that powers my rig, sending its fan into overdrive -- thanked be the deities for it not being multicore aware or it would have brought the system to a complete standstill.

Nonetheless, as a tiny single executable (96KB) without permanent settings (?), which is one of the few RegShot freeware alternatives, and mentioned here at TPFC forums as far back as 2006, the program info is now updated.

• WhatChanged is a system utility that scans for modified files and registry entries. It is useful for checking program installations. There are two steps for using WhatChanged: 1) First, take a snapshot to get the current state of the computer; 2) Second, run it again to check the differences since the previous snapshot. WhatChanged uses the "brute force method" to check files and the registry.

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