LastActivityView 1.37

Overview

LastActivityView is a lightweight tool that records the latest activities going on a computer and then registers all the actions done by user or the events that occurred on the system like, folders or files opened, network connections and disconnections, dialog-box saved or opened, system start or shutdown, and much more. This is a portable software, so it can be used on any system, simply by saving it to a USB flash device or other storage devices. The logged information of latest activities can be exported into csv/tab-delimited/xml/ html file or copied to clipboard and then pasted into Excel.

Installation

The process of installation or any additional dll files are not required for this software. You simply need to run the executable file (LastActivityView.exe), whenever you want to use the software. On running the software, it will examine the activities going on your computer and will log all these actions and events. Following Operating Systems support the software: Windows 2K / XP / Vista / Vista / 7 / 7 /8 (Both 32-bit and 64-bit systems are supported).

Interface

The look and feel of the application is similar to a standard window and has a simple design which is quite accessible as well.  On opening the application, all the recently logged activities are listed in the window with details including, Action Time, Description, Filename, Full Path, More Information, and File Extension. The toolbar consists of icons for basic functions like, Save, Refresh, Copy, Properties, Search, and Exit. The menu options (File, Edit, View) let you perform functions like save or copy selected items from the list and enhance the view of the window.

Pros

This tool lets you easily inspect any system, as it supports a long list of actions and events like running .exe file, software installation, system started or shutdown, resumed from sleep, network connected or disconnected, software crash, software hang, user logon or logoff, and much more.

Since the application does not require any installation, so you can simply add it to your portable device and use it on any system. Moreover, Windows registry is not updated with new entries and later on, if you want to remove this software from the system then its files are also cleaned from the hard drive.

For more analysis of the activities, the information collected from various resources by LastActivityView can be exported and saved into csv/xml/tab-limited/html files. Another way of doing that is by copying all or selected items to the Clipboard and then pasting them into Excel or other software.

It is also packed with some useful tools like ‘Find’ that lets you search for a specific activity from the entire list. The software also provides the option to show the time in GMT.

It takes a very low amount of CPU memory without slowing down performance of the computer, plus it has a very good response time.

Cons

The precision and availability of the information shown by LastActivityView might vary from system to system.  Also, there are some limitations in the way activities are saved, for example, if three excel files are opened from a dialog box then only the last activity will be logged.

Alternatives

System Surveillance Pro, although not exactly similar, is a powerful monitoring software as it logs keystrokes, IM chats, applications used, and Websites visited and can even capture screenshots at user-defined periodic intervals.

Conclusion

This is an easy-to-use application with simple layout and does not require much space to run on the system. Those who simply want to view recent activities on their systems and want to go for a free system monitoring software, LastActivityView is the right choice.