Raymond.CC Blog

Most Windows users discover it with time: right after Windows is installed, or when one gets a new PC, the machine is “clean”. Startup and shutdown are fast, the system directories are not crowded with files that contain God knows what, no useless program is wasting your CPU 24/24, etc. Then, things start deteriorating…

Windows does not provide an easy way to keep its system clean. For example, there are many different ways for a program to install itself so that it is run automatically, so it is not easy for you to track down which application decided “by itself” to use your system’s resources in the way it wants. Slowly, your machine becomes a mess. Your CPU is wasted by running processes that you don’t need. Applications create files in your system directories and leave them behind. You sometimes refrain to install and evaluate a new program because you are afraid that it will not uninstall everything afterward. Anyway, the time it takes you to start and stop Windows become longer and longer. You start thinking about reinstalling “just to get things clean again”…


Tiny Watcher is a freeware program to help you keep a clean Windows system. It monitors most changes to files, registry, processes, etc and works on Windows 95,98,ME, NT, 2000 and XP. The way Tiny Watcher works is pretty simple: basically, it starts by taking a snapshot of important parts of your Windows system; then it tracks changes (every time you log in, or whenever you want to). When a change is detected, you are notified.

Tiny Watcher has been designed to work discreetly. You will barely notice it at logon time: the about box shows for less than 5 seconds, and a progression gauge displays briefly.

Both of these windows being optional, Tiny Watcher can run completely silent. Most of the time, you will just forget that it’s here. Go to Start Menu, select Tiny Watcher > Options. The options window will show. Make sure that the “Show progress gauge” checkbox is unchecked. Then click OK to close the options window.

When Tiny Watcher detects a difference between your current machine state and what was monitored before, you will see the Warning window and you will be able to decide what to do about it (some items can be disabled or removed right away).

The good thing about Tiny Watcher is it is small and uses very little resources on your machine. It runs pretty fast and only when you request it. Tiny Watcher can also be configured to suit your needs. You can edit the list of directories and registry keys that are monitored, decide which files will be checked, etc. Most importantly, Tiny Watcher is FREE.

Although Tiny Watcher has its pros but there are weakness as well. Tiny Watcher detects changes afterward and no automatic cleanup feature which makes it not a novice tool. It is more for advanced users.

Let me tell you a little about my experience with Tiny Watcher. My Windows computer was infected by spyware few weeks ago and I kept on getting advertisement popups every hour. I’ve scanned my computer with Ad-Aware, SpyBot, SUPER AntiSpyware, Spyware Doctor but none is able to detect anything. I even ran HijackThis to check on any suspicious startup items but couldn’t find any. I actually had Tiny Watcher installed long ago, testing and thinking that maybe I’d write about it someday. I ran Tiny Watcher and it tells me that it has 24 scheduled tasks added. True enough that the spyware is automatically ran every hour using scheduled tasks. Question on my mind was, why none of the anti-spyware program scan and detect that area?

[ Download Tiny Watcher ]