Hi all, can I have the last accessed date kept unchanged from now on, even if they are viewed or executed? I have a number of files and folders that I'd like to check when they were last accessed by me.
NTFS allows you to disable the last access timestamp modification, but it's all or nothing.
It cannot be done on a per-folder, file or drive volume basis.
Read the tutorial:
Enable or Disable NTFS Last Access Time Stamp Updates in Windows 10
Why does your title mention "creation date" and "last modified date" when the question is only about "last accessed date"?
What I mean is, so now every file has its last accessed time right? When I execute or just view the files, their last accessed time will be updated to the current data and time immediately, right? I wish to make it that they don't update from now on, then I can see when those files were last accessed.
Yes, that's what Last accessed records.
You can achieve that by not accessing them.
Not if you have found some means to stop their Last accessed property from updating [assuming there is some method of doing so].
If you do find some means to stop their Last accessed property from updating then whatever you read in the future will be whatever the values were at the moment when you managed to force them to stop updating and would bear no relation to when you last accessed them.
I still do not understand what you are really trying to achieve because I cannot see any meaningful data being available from what you say you want to do.
What decision will you expect to take when you view the data? Perhaps there is a way of providing data for that decision. Perhaps Last modified would support that decision instead?
I have never found any use for Last accessed myself. I often use Last modified and sometimes make use of Created but that's it.
Denis
I have my personal reason that you cannot envisage. I prefer not to tell because I do not want to lie, and even if I tell you the truth, you can choose to believe that I am making up stories and figuring out something else. Weapon can also be positive or negative. You can't just assume that it is used negatively. After all, what I can tell is I am doing all this to my personal computer that I have full access of. Thanks for understanding.
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Did you mean there is no way to achieve this? Of course, if I don't access them, their last accessed date won't be updated without any doubt. However, I want to access them while keeping the last accessed date unchanged. You may think that I want to watch files that I have no authorization. No, definitely NOT the case. Please understand. If I WERE doing this, there are just plenty of such tools on the web that I can download and modify the dates painlessly. What I am interested is when the file was last accessed, as simple as that. Please understand.
Hello @kenny2023,
Fair enough.
Without an explanation it will obviously limit the help available and that you receive.
See if this is something that you could use:
> Add Copy Contents to Clipboard to Context Menu in Windows 10
There is one that I use [ I created a customREGfile that added options in theContext Menujust for my criteria ] but I can't seem to find the Internet source for it.
You might be able to find something similar that you can adapt to your requirements.
Otherwise, a Script may be able to extract the specific required folder[s] data for you.
Did you see @garlin's post #3 ?
I hope this helps.
EDIT:
You could use something like this is aCMD Prompt:
Code:dir "FULL PATH TO DIRECTORY" /TA /O-D
Last edited by Paul Black; 22 Sep 2023 at 07:16.
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