Windows Log Files

Windows Log Files

Windows logs also offer a timeline of events for the Windows operating system and services. Windows logs are accessed through the Event Viewer application.

1. System Logs

   • Access through Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> System.

   • These logs contain information about driver failures, system starts, and errors related to the Windows operating system.

2. Application Logs

   • Access through Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Application.

   • These logs contain information about application failures, warnings and information messages.

3. Security Logs

   • Access through Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Security.

   • These logs contain information about login attempts, resource access, resource use, and other security-related events.

4. Setup Logs

   • Access through Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Setup.

   • These logs contain information about Windows setup and deployment.

5. Forwarded Events

   • Access through Event Viewer -> Windows Logs -> Forwarded Events.

   • These logs contain events forwarded to this computer from other computers.

To export logs in Windows, you can use the "Save All Events As..." option in Event Viewer.

Credentials in Windows Log Files As with Linux, it's highly unusual and unsafe for plain text passwords to be stored in log files. However, security logs could contain information about attempted and successful logins.

In both Linux and Windows, it's more common to see the evidence of credentials being used (such as user names used in log in attempts, or services being accessed), rather than the credentials themselves being stored in logs.