Overview

This article provides information related to Windows Event Logs.

Information

Windows event logs are the systematic recording of computer-related events that occurred within computer systems and networks running on Windows Operating Systems. In systems running on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista, events are recorded and organized in three default event logs:

• Application log
• Security log
• System log
  
  

Computers with specialized network roles such as domain controllers and DNS servers allow the logging of events to additional (default) logs such as:

• Directory service log
• File replication service log
• DNS server log
  
  

Windows event logs contain the following types of events:

• Error - Error events indicate that a significant problem, such as loss of data or functionality, has occurred. For example, an Error event is recorded every time that a service or driver fails to load during startup.
  
  
• Warning - Warning indicates events that are not necessarily significant but which may possibly cause future problems. For example, a Warning event is recorded every time that disk space runs low.
  
  
• Information - Information events describe the successful operation of an application, driver or service. For example, an Information' event is recorded every time that a network driver loads successfully.
  
  
• Success Audit - Success Audit events indicate security access attempts that were successful. For example, a Success Audit event is recorded every time that a user successfully logs on to his/her Windows-based workstation.
  
  
• Failure Audit - Failure Audit events indicate security access attempts that failed. For example, a Failure Audit event is recorded every time that a user fails to access a network drive.
  
  

Related Articles

• How can I verify that GFI EventsManager can retrieve Windows events from a target computer?
• How does GFI EventsManager work?
• How to obtain a list of processing rules and related Event IDs used in GFI EventsManager?
• How to configure auditing on files, folders, and registry keys?