πŸš€ Stop Switching Between Logs: A Modern Way to Troubleshoot Windows

Spread the love

If you’ve ever troubleshot a Windows machine, you already know the pain.

You start in Application logs, then jump to System logs.
Then suddenly you need Group Policy logs buried under:

Microsoft β†’ Windows β†’ GroupPolicy β†’ Operational

You export one log…
Then realize you need another…
Then go back again…

Before you know it, you’re stuck in the old Event Viewer UI, clicking endlessly.

πŸ‘‰ This is exactly the problem Core365 Event Dashboard solves.


⚑ What Is Core365 Event Dashboard?

Core365 Event Dashboard is a PowerShell-based event log collector and HTML dashboard generator that:

  • Discovers ALL Windows event logs automatically
  • Collects events across logs in one run
  • Generates a fully interactive HTML report
  • Works with zero dependencies β€” no agents, no servers

You simply run one script and get a complete troubleshooting dashboard instantly.


🧠 Why This Tool Is a Game Changer

Instead of manually collecting logs one by one:

βœ… One execution β†’ All logs
βœ… One file β†’ Full analysis
βœ… One dashboard β†’ Everything linked

The script uses:

Get-WinEvent -ListLog *

to discover every log with events, including:

  • Group Policy
  • PowerShell
  • DNS
  • Firewall
  • NTFS
  • Task Scheduler

πŸ–₯️ The Dashboard Experience (3-Pane Design)

The generated HTML dashboard is built like a modern SIEM-lite interface:

πŸ“‚ Left Pane – Log Explorer

  • All logs grouped and collapsible
  • Search and filter logs instantly
  • Event counts per log

πŸ“Š Middle Pane – Insights & Analysis

  • Summary cards (Total, Error, Warning, etc.)
  • Timeline chart (events per hour)
  • Correlated incidents
  • Advanced filters
  • Paginated event table

πŸ“‹ Right Pane – Deep Dive

  • Click any event β†’ see full details instantly
  • Includes message, source, machine, and metadata

πŸ‘‰ This 3-pane layout provides fast navigation and deep visibility


πŸ”— Built-In Event Correlation (This Is Huge)

Instead of manually connecting events, the tool automatically detects incidents.

βœ… 7 Correlation Rules Included

πŸ”— Rule 🧾 Event IDs πŸ“‚ Source ⏱ Window
πŸ” Account Lockout Chain 4625 β†’ 4740 β†’ 4767 Security 30 min
🚫 Authentication Failures 4625 4771 4776 Security 15 min
βš™οΈ Service Crash & Recovery 7034 7036 7040 System 60 min
πŸ“œ Group Policy Processing 1500–1503 8000–8007 GPO 10 min
πŸ”„ Windows Update 19 20 21 22 43 44 System 120 min
πŸ’½ Disk Errors 7 9 11 15 51 System 60 min
πŸ”₯ Firewall Changes 2004 2005 2006 2033 Firewall 30 min

βœ… Automatically grouped within time windows
βœ… Displayed as β€œincidents” with severity

No more guessing relationships between logs.

πŸ“š Built-In Knowledge Base (55 Event IDs)

Each event includes:

  • Plain English explanation
  • What to check next
  • Direct Microsoft Docs link
  • Fallback Google search

Example:

  • 4625 β†’ Failed logon
  • 7034 β†’ Service crash
  • 41 β†’ Unexpected reboot
  • 1102 β†’ Audit log cleared (critical)

πŸ‘‰ This turns the tool into a learning + troubleshooting platform


πŸ” Powerful Filtering & Search

You can filter events by:

  • Level (Critical / Error / Warning / Info)
  • Source
  • Date range
  • Full-text search

All filters work together using AND logic.

πŸ‘‰ No more scrolling through thousands of events blindly.


πŸ“Š Features That Sysadmins Will Love

  • βœ… Timeline visualization (events per hour)
  • βœ… CSV export of filtered data
  • βœ… Sortable event table
  • βœ… Pagination (50 per page)
  • βœ… Dark/Light mode toggle
  • βœ… Instant event detail panel
  • βœ… Keyboard support (Escape closes panel)

All packed into a single HTML file you can share anywhere


βš™οΈ How It Works (Technical Breakdown)

Step 1: Discover Logs

Get-WinEvent -ListLog *

Step 2: Collect Events

  • Filters by time (-Hours)
  • Limits events (-MaxEventsPerLog)
  • Normalizes levels & messages

Step 3: Convert to JSON

Each event becomes:

  • TimeCreated
  • Event ID
  • Level
  • LogName
  • Source
  • Message

Step 4: Build HTML Dashboard

  • Embeds data into JavaScript
  • Uses Chart.js for visualization
  • Fully self-contained output

πŸ‘‰ The result: a portable forensic report


πŸš€ Quick Usage

# Basic run (last 24 hours)
.\EventDashboard_v2.ps1

# Custom example
.\EventDashboard_v2.ps1 -Hours 72 -MaxEventsPerLog 2000

βœ… Automatically opens in browser
βœ… Generates timestamped HTML report

  • Fully self-contained
  • Can be emailed or archived
  • No installation required

πŸ” Security Notes

  • Read-only (no changes to system)
  • No data leaves the machine
  • HTML file contains sensitive logs β†’ handle carefully

πŸ”— Download & Demo Snippets

βœ… Download Script (GitHub)

πŸš€ Download Core365 Event Dashboard Script

βœ… View Sample HTML Report

πŸ“Š View Interactive Event Dashboard Demo

🎯 Real-World Use Cases

βœ… GPO troubleshooting
βœ… Login/lockout investigations
βœ… Server crash analysis
βœ… Disk and hardware issues
βœ… Patch/Windows Update failures
βœ… Security auditing

πŸ’¬ FAQ

No installation required. The script runs directly using PowerShell, which is already built into Windows.

Yes. The script supports Windows Server 2016 and above, making it ideal for both servers and desktops.

Yes, but you must run PowerShell as Administrator to access Security logs.

Absolutely. The output is a single HTML file that you can email or store for later analysis.

For troubleshooting workflows β€” yes. It provides a much faster and more user-friendly experience than traditional Event Viewer.

πŸ”₯ Final Thoughts

Core365 Event Dashboard turns:

❌ Manual log hunting
πŸ‘‰ into
βœ… Automated, visual troubleshooting

Instead of jumping between logs and tools, you now get:

  • Everything collected
  • Everything correlated
  • Everything explained

πŸ‘‰ All in one clean dashboard.


πŸ‘‰ Call to Action

If you’re tired of switching between Event Viewer logs:

βœ… Try it
βœ… Share it with your team
βœ… Drop your feedback below

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

×