Wintail
11/2/15 - Support for Windows Server 2012 added.
Wintail is a small FREE program I wrote after struggling to view log files as they were being updated using
Windows Notepad. I missed using 'tail -f' in UNIX and since there was no program like it in Windows,
I wrote my own. It is much more useful than even the UNIX tail -f because you can have several
tiled windows open at once, and you can pause updates while looking closely at the file (so important
pieces of information do not whiz by). Very large files are supported (over 2 GB) and error highlighting is available to make errors easier to spot in log files.
License: Wintail is FREE for commercial and non-commercial use with no warranty or guarantees.
Usage:
Run Wintail and select the open menu item to open files you wish to monitor. You may also drag and drop files onto the title bar or menu bar to open them. If you monitor
the same files repeatedly, the most useful way to use Wintail is to create a shortcut and add the files you wish to monitor to the command line as arguments. In the shortcut, modify the 'target'
by adding the files to monitor separated by spaces. For files with spaces in the path, surround with double quotes:
c:\progs\wintail.exe c:\somefile.txt "c:\program files\a path with spaces.txt"
Version history:
1.19.2
- Increased MRU display size.
- Bug fixes/improvements in keyword highlighting.
1.19.1
- Added MRU menu support (most recently used files).
- Settings now saved to roaming appData folder.
1.19
- Added support for .NET4.5 (Required for Windows Server 2012)
- Allows continued tailing after file is deleted (or log file 'rolls'). Will automatically resume tailing when file reappears.
1.18
- Added support for error highlighting. There is a new setting under the view menu to set words to highlight in red.
1.17.2
- Added support for files larger than 2GB
1.17.1
- Added configurable buffer size command line parameter. specify /b and then a number of KB to override the default of 64KB:
wintail.exe /b 128 file1.txt /b 256 file2.txt
To make all files the same buffer size, put it at the beginning:
wintail.exe /b 128 file1.txt file2.txt
1.17
- Bug fixes - Occasional application hangs, incorrect saving of screen geometry settings when closing Wintail while minimized.
1.16
- Bug fix - (infinite 'file deleted' dialog boxes when a tailed file is deleted).
1.15
- Now compatible with Vista/Windows 7+. Complete rewrite of Wintail as Microsoft seems to have changed the
way file write timestamps are modified (they are no longer modified until the underlying stream is closed).
Also, the old MFC Wintail will not compile in debug mode under Visual Studio Express, so I had no choice
but to rewrite it using .NET as I no longer have the older version of Visual C++ used for Wintail.
1.14
- Added support for user configuration of a text editor for viewing tailed files. Used to be hardcoded
to use Notepad.exe. Now use View->Set Editor... to change the default editor to something else.
1.13
- UNIX linefeeds are now supported (sort of). What happens is Wintail will search the file for the presence of linefeeds but the absence of carriage returns. If
this is the case (there are linefeeds, but NO carriage returns), it assumes it is a UNIX text file and then prefixes each LF with a CR. This might make things run a little slower due
to the extra check, and this has not been extensively tested. Let me know if you have any problems.
1.12
- Added word wrapping support. This parameter is saved in the registry on exit for next time.
1.11
- Added support for multiple files on the command line. All files on command line are now
opened and tiled at startup. For paths with spaces, use double quotation marks such as:
wintail.exe c:\temp.txt "c:\program files\test2.txt"
This is very handy when you need to monitor the same files frequently -- just create a shortcut
and use the format above on the command line.
1.10.1
- File handles are now properly closed. File may even be deleted or moved while you are tailing.
1.10
- Added support for large files.
- Added full file path to title bar to make clearer when looking at two identical filenames in
different directories
Email Andy Hofle