Windows PowerShell provides built-in capabilities that closely mimic tail -f functionality:

Get-Content -Path "C:\logs\app.log" -Wait -Tail 10

For more advanced filtering while tailing:

Get-Content -Path "C:\logs\app.log" -Wait | Where-Object { $_ -match "ERROR" }

For developers preferring visual interfaces:

• BareTail: Free tool with highlighting and pause functionality
• LogExpert: Open-source multi-tab log viewer with regex search
• GSAR: Handles large log files efficiently with bookmarking

For custom solutions, here's a basic implementation:

using System;
using System.IO;

class LogTail {
    static void Main(string[] args) {
        using (var fs = new FileStream("app.log", FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite))
        using (var sr = new StreamReader(fs)) {
            fs.Seek(0, SeekOrigin.End);
            while (true) {
                string line = sr.ReadLine();
                if (line != null) Console.WriteLine(line);
                else System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(100);
            }
        }
    }
}

Create a reusable function for your profile:

function Watch-Log {
    param (
        [string]$Path,
        [int]$Lines = 10,
        [string]$Filter = "*"
    )
    Get-Content -Path $Path -Wait -Tail $Lines | 
    Where-Object { $_ -like $Filter }
}

Standalone executables that don't require installation:

• log-watch.exe: Single binary with color output
• winTail: Supports multiple files simultaneously
• mtail: Go-based tool with metric extraction

For developers who can use WSL:

wsl tail -f /mnt/c/logs/app.log

This provides native tail behavior while accessing Windows files.

As a developer who frequently switches between Linux and Windows environments, I've always missed the simplicity of tail -f for monitoring log files in real-time. While Windows has its own set of tools, none provide the same seamless experience out of the box.

For basic log monitoring, these built-in Windows tools can help:

# PowerShell alternative (Windows 10+)
Get-Content -Path "C:\logs\app.log" -Wait -Tail 10

This PowerShell command mimics tail -f behavior, showing the last 10 lines and updating in real-time. However, it lacks some advanced features like pausing the output.

For more robust solutions, these tools offer excellent functionality:

• BareTail (Free): Lightweight GUI tool with highlighting and search
• LogExpert (Free): Advanced log viewer with multiple file support
• GSAR (Free): Command-line tool similar to Unix utilities

If you prefer a custom approach, here's a simple Python script that replicates tail -f with pause functionality:

import time
import os

def tail_f(file_path):
    with open(file_path, 'r') as f:
        # Go to end of file
        f.seek(0, os.SEEK_END)
        
        while True:
            line = f.readline()
            if not line:
                time.sleep(0.1)
                continue
            yield line

if __name__ == '__main__':
    for line in tail_f('application.log'):
        print(line, end='')

For Windows power users, this enhanced PowerShell script adds pause functionality:

$logFile = "C:\logs\app.log"
$paused = $false

function Show-Help {
    Write-Host "Commands:"
    Write-Host "  p - Pause output"
    Write-Host "  r - Resume output"
    Write-Host "  q - Quit"
}

Show-Help

Get-Content -Path $logFile -Wait -Tail 10 | ForEach-Object {
    if (-not $paused) {
        $_
    }
    
    if ([Console]::KeyAvailable) {
        $key = [Console]::ReadKey($true)
        switch ($key.Key) {
            'P' { $paused = $true; Write-Host "n[PAUSED]" }
            'R' { $paused = $false; Write-Host "n[RESUMED]" }
            'Q' { exit }
        }
    }
}

The best option depends on your specific needs:

For most developers, I recommend starting with PowerShell for quick checks and BareTail for more intensive log analysis sessions.