in reply to reading .evt logs (Win32)

the win32 api to read the event log is :
BOOL ReadEventLog( HANDLE hEventLog, // handle to event log DWORD dwReadFlags, // how to read log DWORD dwRecordOffset, // initial record offset LPVOID lpBuffer, // buffer for read data DWORD nNumberOfBytesToRead, // bytes to read DWORD *pnBytesRead, // number of bytes read DWORD *pnMinNumberOfBytesNeeded // bytes required );
i guess you could use Win32::API to call this API and read the event logs...
hth