Custom event (18) how to monitor with email alert

[bob]

You ever poke around in Windows Server and spot those Event Viewer logs popping up? They're like little diary entries from your server, spilling details on what's going wrong or just happening normally. I mean, every time something kicks off, good or bad, it jots down the who, what, and when right there.

Now, this Custom event with ID 18? It's one of those quirky ones you might set up yourself or from some app. Picture it as a flag for custom stuff, like when a program you installed wants to yell about a specific hiccup. In Event Viewer, you fire it up by hitting the Start button, typing Event Viewer, and bam, it's open.

You click on Windows Logs, then pick System or Application depending on where it hides. Scroll through, and if that 18 shows, it's probably under a source like your custom app. I always filter it by event ID to spot it quick-right-click the log, Create Custom View, punch in 18, and hit OK.

That pulls up just those events, making life easier. But monitoring? You don't want to babysit it all day. Set a trigger so it emails you when 18 fires.

I do this with a scheduled task straight from Event Viewer-no fancy coding. You right-click the custom view, Attach Task To This Custom View. Name it something snappy, like Event18Alert.

Then, pick what it triggers on-event ID 18 exactly. For the action, tell it to start a program, but we'll loop that to send an email later. Check the box for any user, run with highest privileges, and you're golden.

It watches round the clock, firing off when that custom event drops. You tweak the schedule if needed, but default works fine for alerts.

And hey, if you want it to blast an email right away, that's where a simple program action shines. I link it to something basic that pings your inbox with the details.

At the end of this chat, there's the automatic email solution laid out for you-super straightforward.

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Note, the PowerShell email alert code was moved to this post.