Find the path of any existing traces by executing the following:-

select path 
from sys.traces

Once the path and file name are known, run the following SQL:-

-- Load contents of trace into a SQL temporary table
-- Do not specify log numbers to load all log files for a trace
SELECT * INTO ##temp_trc
FROM fn_trace_gettable('C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\log.trc', default);

SELECT * FROM ##temp_trc

The above example loads all trace files like log%.trc [log1.trc, log2.trc etc] into a temporary table. You can of course load into a physically stored table by removing the hashes. If you want to load data from just one trace file from a group of rolled over trace files then specify the number on the end [e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\log7.trc].

To check to see whether a default trace is indeed currently running, execute the following:-

SELECT * 
FROM sys.configurations 
WHERE configuration_id = 1568

If the value is ’1′ then the trace is running. Once you have established that the trace is enabled, you need to run a query to determine the most recent trace file. Trace files automatically rollover, so you need to know which one to query.

SELECT traceid, value 
FROM [fn_trace_getinfo](default) 
WHERE [property] = 2;

The full path and file name will be returned. You can then run the following query and include the correct path to the most recent file. You could of course setup a variable to automatically populate the path.

SELECT *  
FROM [fn_trace_gettable]('C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\LOG\log_49.trc', DEFAULT) 
ORDER BY StartTime;

You can disable the trace by issuing the following commands. However, don’t expect a dramatic increase in server performance as the trace uses only minimal resources.

EXEC master.dbo.sp_configure 'allow updates', 1;
GO 
EXEC master.dbo.sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1;
GO 
EXEC master.dbo.sp_configure 'default trace enabled', 0;
GO
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE;
GO
EXEC master.dbo.sp_configure 'show advanced options', 0;
GO
EXEC master.dbo.sp_configure 'allow updates', 0;
GO

See below image to see how to open SQL Profiler

See below list for the Key terms associated with profiler.

Event is an action that is generated within an instance of a SQL Server Database Engine. These could be login failure, connection failure or any disconnection. It will include events such as T-SQL statements, remote procedure call batch status, the start or end of a stored procedure, the start or end of statements within a stored procedure and so on.. These are displayed in the trace in a single row intersected by data columns with descriptive details.

Event Class is an event that can be traced and contains all of the data that can be reported by the event. For example SQL: Batch completed for instance is an event class

Event Category defines the methodology used for grouping events within the SQL Server Profiler. For instance lock events will be categorized under Lock event category.

Data Column is an attribute of an event class that is captured in the trace.

Template is the default configuration for a trace. It includes the event classes that are required for monitoring.

Trace captures data based on selected event classes, data columns and filters.

Filter Data can be filtered by specifying criteria of selection during the execution of an event. This feature is used to reduce the size of the Trace.

Event Selection Tab

You can use fn_trace_gettable function to read the trace file.