To monitor user activity on a Windows computer, you can use the built-in auditing features of Windows. Here are the steps to set this up:
- Enable auditing:
- Open the Group Policy Editor by pressing the Windows key + R and typing “gpedit.msc” in the Run dialog box.
- Navigate to Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Security Settings -> Local Policies -> Audit Policy.
- Double-click “Audit account logon events”, select “Success” and “Failure”, and click “OK”.
- Double-click “Audit logon events”, select “Success” and “Failure”, and click “OK”.
- Double-click “Audit object access”, select “Success” and “Failure”, and click “OK”.
- Double-click “Audit policy change”, select “Success” and “Failure”, and click “OK”.
- Close the Group Policy Editor.
- Configure auditing for specific objects:
- Open File Explorer and navigate to the file or folder you want to monitor.
- Right-click the file or folder and select “Properties”.
- Click the “Security” tab, then click the “Advanced” button.
- Click the “Auditing” tab, then click the “Add” button.
- Enter the name of the user or group you want to audit, then click “OK”.
- Select the type of access you want to audit (e.g., “Read” or “Write”), then click “OK”.
- Click “OK” to close the Advanced Security Settings dialog box.
- View the audit log:
- Open the Event Viewer by pressing the Windows key + X and selecting “Event Viewer” from the menu.
- Expand “Windows Logs” in the left pane and select “Security”.
- In the right pane, you should see a list of security events.
- Use the Filter Current Log option to filter for specific user activity events.
With these steps, you should now be able to monitor user activity on your Windows computer. Note that auditing can generate a large number of events, so it is important to filter the events to focus on the ones that are most relevant to your monitoring needs.