Abstract: A file monitoring and auditing system for dynamically tracking and auditing files in a user level file system in a computer network system. The file monitoring and auditing system includes logic that allows a programmer to “privately” define file entries in a target computer system and to determine what file level changes have occurred on the target system relative to a known baseline file information. A file auditing logic tracks file discrepancies during a file audit capture period and reports these discrepancies in the form of file manifests to the programmer. Each file manifest comprises header information and file entries of all the files designated for auditing.