Don't you wish you'd known when someone made that change to Group Policy that broke the network? Don't you wish that you'd had some idea to help you track down the problem just that much faster?

Group Policy is a great tool, and one can argue one of the greatest features of Active Directory itself. But alone, Group Policy doesn't include any built-in workflow features that assist with alerting administrators when things change. Until now.

The guys over at NetWrix announced this week a new tool called Group Policy Change Reporter that assists in doing just this. Best yet, the tool is freeware -- even for companies. The free version...

"...makes Group Policy change auditing task very easy and straightforward. This FREE product sends daily reports detailing every single change made to Group Policy configuration. The reports list newly created and deleted GPOs, GPO link changes, changes made to audit policy, password policy, software deployment, user desktops, and all other settings. The data includes Who, What and When information for all changes with previous and current values for all modified settings."

For a few bucks more you can add some advanced features like better reporting, policy archival, and technical support. Check out and get your free version here: http://www.netwrix.com/group_policy_auditing_change_reporting_freeware.html