Accessed date attribute (also called last accessed date) indicates on the file systems level when a file was accessed the last time. Last accessed date attribute differs from modified date and file property. While modification date and time indicates the last changes in file contents, last accessed date does not necessarily presuppose changes of content. When a file is modified, modification and last accessed date is set to the same value. However if the file is only opened for viewing, copied, moved, or in other words - if file or folder is used in any way, last accessed date is changed to current one.
Like all file attributes last accessed date is recorded in file system in addition to file, not in the file contents. This file systems level date file property does not interfere with the date stamps that are stored in the file itself. Various programs put their own date and time records in the file contents or meta-tags like Microsoft Office products and other software. Virtually there might be a file format which at the file content level presupposes infinite number of file dates and times fixed, yet there is only one last Accessed date attribute at the file systems level per file.
Any viewing, copying or moving of the documents, images and other files automatically alters last accessed date stamp of the file. However in some cases it might be essential to revert files last accessed date back to particular one (e.g. for sorting, recording, logging or other purposes).
With Febooti fileTweak it is possible to change last accessed date stamp of a file, folder or even group of files and / or folders on the file systems level with a single click. Modification of file date property does not changes files contents or interfere with files implicit time / date meta-tags.
- Sometimes last accessed time is changed due to some programs operation with files or folders. It might be antivirus software which accesses file for virus scanning purpose or Windows Explorer that extracts icon from executable file thus changing the last accessed date.
- Resolution of file last accessed date is 1 hour for NTFS and 1 day for FAT. This means that only access hour or day will be recorded for this file property, skipping access minutes or hours accordingly.
- For improved file system performance Last Access time update in switched off in Windows Vista by default. Thus, Last Access time attribute is set upon creating file and not changed afterwards even if file is modified. However, it is possible to enable Last Access time updates if necessary.
To enable Last Access time updates open Registry Editor by typingregeditin Search input on Start Menu, locateHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystempath entry and changeNtfsDisableLastAccessUpdatevalue data to0. After setting Last Access time update, system has to be restarted for the change to take effect. Alternatively, run the following command with administrator rights:
C:\>fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 0