Searching for recent files?

[Terry Pinnell]

I'm doing some maintenance on my backup routines. I thought I'd search
\Program Files to find any recent files that have changed, such as INI
and CONFIG and LOG file etc, so that I could include these in my list
of backups.

Using the 'Specify Dates' box, I got what seemed a useful list of
folders and filenames. But on closer examination of the folders (in
the top part of the list) I found several that although their Date
Modified was 17/09/2008 they did *not* contain any files of that date.
I also found several files (in the lower part of the list) like
xyz.ini, for which there was no folder called xyz.
How can either of these things happen please? I assumed that, if a
file gets added or changed, both the file and the folder get the same
revised 'Date Modified.

 

[Gazwad]

On Wed, 17 Sep 2008 08:51:46 +0100 Terry Pinnell
(e-mail address removed) the Fraudulent Pig Acknowledgement
Approval Task Force member wrote in

I'm doing some maintenance on my backup routines. I thought I'd search
\Program Files to find any recent files that have changed, such as INI
and CONFIG and LOG file etc, so that I could include these in my list
of backups.

Using the 'Specify Dates' box, I got what seemed a useful list of
folders and filenames. But on closer examination of the folders (in
the top part of the list) I found several that although their Date
Modified was 17/09/2008 they did *not* contain any files of that date.
I also found several files (in the lower part of the list) like
xyz.ini, for which there was no folder called xyz.
How can either of these things happen please? I assumed that, if a
file gets added or changed, both the file and the folder get the same
revised 'Date Modified.

****off pinhead, you thankless ****.
You'll never live down being a rude **** who wastes everyone's time because
it suits you rather than supplying adequate details.
I hope anyone that does decide to help you learns the hard way that you're a
complete and utter piece of shit.

--
Lunch was nice; Contemptible ferret innards and frogmouth owl nerve
compote on top of dissipated sturgeon gumboil, cooked in a steaming pail
stuffed with twitching specks of sea slug and nut with squares of
calamari in putrefied gore, a side of foetal carrier pigeon skin and a
glass of emulsified sweat and grease from the chef's forehead.

 

[chuckcar]

I'm doing some maintenance on my backup routines. I thought I'd search
\Program Files to find any recent files that have changed, such as INI
and CONFIG and LOG file etc, so that I could include these in my list
of backups.

Using the 'Specify Dates' box, I got what seemed a useful list of
folders and filenames. But on closer examination of the folders (in
the top part of the list) I found several that although their Date
Modified was 17/09/2008 they did *not* contain any files of that date.
I also found several files (in the lower part of the list) like
xyz.ini, for which there was no folder called xyz.
How can either of these things happen please? I assumed that, if a
file gets added or changed, both the file and the folder get the same
revised 'Date Modified.

Short answer: temporary files. Long answer: if a program needs to store
something temporarily so that another part can work on it, it writes that
information to a file. That program then exits and the next program reads
the file, deletes it when it's done with it. The end result is that no new
files are there, but the directory has been modified.

 

[Terry Pinnell]

Short answer: temporary files. Long answer: if a program needs to store
something temporarily so that another part can work on it, it writes that
information to a file. That program then exits and the next program reads
the file, deletes it when it's done with it. The end result is that no new
files are there, but the directory has been modified.

Thanks chuckcar.