Patent ID: 7209934

Claim:
A method for monitoring files, said method comprising: receiving a folder including one or more file path identifiers each specifying a server machine and a directory; for each of said file path identifiers in said folder: transmitting a query to said specified server machine requesting current directory data corresponding to said specified directory, said current directory data including a file name, a created date, a modified date and a file size for each file included in said specified directory; receiving said current directory data from said server machine in response to said query; comparing said current directory data to a previous version of said directory data; transmitting an alert message if a previous file size in said previous version of said directory data is larger than a corresponding said file size in said current directory data; and storing said file path identifier and said current directory data in a monitoring database; creating a monitoring report based on contents of the monitoring database; and transmitting said monitoring report to a user.