RollBack Rx & Shadow Defender

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by pegr

Oh dear, that's not very reassuring!

As I said before no program works for everyone all the time. The fact that there are some folks who have had problems should be no surprise. I do agree with the statement that "It helps to always have an image of your drive handy".

It also might be of interest for those who are interested to find out just what Alladin/KORs problems were as he presented it on the Horizion forum

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...concerned.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...rustrated.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...-refunded.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/9620-post7.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...xc000000f.html

[pegr]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

As I said before no program works for everyone all the time. The fact that there are some folks who have had problems should be no surprise. I do agree with the statement that "It helps to always have an image of your drive handy".

I don't think anybody (including me) would find it surprising. That said, there are degrees of not working and leaving a system completely unbootable is pretty high up the scale in terms of severity. I think we all agree on the advisability of having a recent image handy before testing new software.

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

It also might be of interest for those who are interested to find out just what Alladin/KORs problems were as he presented it on the Horizion forum

Thanks for posting the links.

Kind regards

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

As I said before no program works for everyone all the time. The fact that there are some folks who have had problems should be no surprise. I do agree with the statement that "It helps to always have an image of your drive handy".

It also might be of interest for those who are interested to find out just what Alladin/KORs problems were as he presented it on the Horizion forum

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...concerned.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...rustrated.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...-refunded.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/9620-post7.html

http://horizondatasys-forum.com/roll...xc000000f.html

Dear Barry,

Thank you for posting the above links. However, these links do not represent all the problems I had with Rollback Rx and they barely starch the surface.

Basically, Rollback Rx destroyed all my three computers, from which I am still recovering. The only way they can be fixed is to reformat them.

When I tried Rollback Rx on my three computers with SSDs, I downloaded Rollback Rx from their site. Everything went OK, so I decided to buy three licenses. With the purchase of three licenses my nightmares started.

1. With the purchase email I got a link to download Rollback Rx for the purchased version which I did.
2. I uninstalled the earlier Rollback Rx and installed the Rollback Rx from the link.
3. On installation, there is an option to check for latest version, which I did every time. And, every time I got the confirmation that I am using the latest version.
4. Then, my nightmares started for almost a month, as all my three computers became un-bootable every 2 to 3 days. I will then restore them from the latest image, update them from the last latest image. And, then re-image them prior to installing Rollback Rx again. I worked on this problem almost 14 hours a day during this whole nightmares.
5. In this whole month of nightmares, I didn't even suspect Rollback Rx being the culprit as I had extensively tried it on my three computers with SSD for about a whole month without ill effect.
6. Finally Froggie (The Rollback Frog) suggested that I might be using the old version of Rollback Rx, which doesn't work on SSDs.

In Conclusion:
1. HDS never apologized about sending me the old wrong version in the purchase link which didn't work with SSD. Their version numbering has been commented upon by Froggie.
2. As far as I know they haven't corrected the bug "check for current version".
3. Supposedly, they had corrected the bug about "activation" and "exceed activation". This still remains a big pain for the current owners of Rollback Rx.
4. I have found out HDS to be a very unethical company, though I might be wrong. A recent example which comes to mind is MagiCure, Bidsjours and HDS.

I can go on and on, but the above is sufficient.

Best regards,

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by pegr

I'm not quite sure what you really think of Rx though. Your responses to me seem quite positive but in other posts you talk about the nightmares of Rollback Rx. In your experience, is it Rx itself that is problematic or, in the context of this thread, is it trying to run it in conjunction with SD that can lead to problems?

I still think that Rollback Rx and SD both being virtualization software, together on the same system is overkill. The reason SD is used with Rollback Rx, as the later doesn't protect from rootkits.

The reason I dabbled with Rollback Rx was, SD doesn't work with SSDs properly due to its age and the known reasons for it not being updated.

Now I am happily trying Deep Freeze on all my four personal computers with SSDs without any ill effects so far.

Best regards,

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by pegr

I don't think anybody (including me) would find it surprising. That said, there are degrees of not working and leaving a system completely unbootable is pretty high up the scale in terms of severity. I think we all agree on the advisability of having a recent image handy before testing new software.

Thanks for posting the links.

Kind regards

Very well said!

Best regards,

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by aladdin

Dear Barry,

Thank you for posting the above links. However, these links do not represent all the problems I had with Rollback Rx and they barely starch the surface.

Basically, Rollback Rx destroyed all my three computers, from which I am still recovering. The only way they can be fixed is to reformat them.

When I tried Rollback Rx on my three computers with SSDs, I downloaded Rollback Rx from their site. Everything went OK, so I decided to buy three licenses. With the purchase of three licenses my nightmares started.

1. With the purchase email I got a link to download Rollback Rx for the purchased version which I did.
2. I uninstalled the earlier Rollback Rx and installed the Rollback Rx from the link.
3. On installation, there is an option to check for latest version, which I did every time. And, every time I got the confirmation that I am using the latest version.
4. Then, my nightmares started for almost a month, as all my three computers became un-bootable every 2 to 3 days. I will then restore them from the latest image, update them from the last latest image. And, then re-image them prior to installing Rollback Rx again. I worked on this problem almost 14 hours a day during this whole nightmares.
5. In this whole month of nightmares, I didn't even suspect Rollback Rx being the culprit as I had extensively tried it on my three computers with SSD for about a whole month without ill effect.
6. Finally Froggie (The Rollback Frog) suggested that I might be using the old version of Rollback Rx, which doesn't work on SSDs.

In Conclusion:
1. HDS never apologized about sending me the old wrong version in the purchase link which didn't work with SSD. Their version numbering has been commented upon by Froggie.
2. As far as I know they haven't corrected the bug "check for current version".
3. Supposedly, they had corrected the bug about "activation" and "exceed activation". This still remains a big pain for the current owners of Rollback Rx.
4. I have found out HDS to be a very unethical company, though I might be wrong. A recent example which comes to mind is MagiCure, Bidsjours and HDS.

I can go on and on, but the above is sufficient.

Best regards,

I understand and as noted elsewhere I greatly sympathize but the issue was with Horizon not RollBack itself. I have not heard of anyone else who has had this problem and in the end they did give you your money back.

[bgoodman4]

Originally Posted by pegr

I don't think anybody (including me) would find it surprising. That said, there are degrees of not working and leaving a system completely unbootable is pretty high up the scale in terms of severity. I think we all agree on the advisability of having a recent image handy before testing new software.

Thanks for posting the links.

Kind regards

I completely agree but the reason the systems were un-bootable was because, as indicated in the provided links, KOR was using a version of the software that was not built for his system. Horizon is completely to blame for this but Horizon and Rx are not one and the same thing and to blame the program for the error (or stupidity) of Horizon is simply wrong. I would also point out that KOR indicated that Rx performed quite well during the trial period, well enough in fact for him to actually pay for 3 licences. Thats when his problems began and these problems were clearly not the fault of the software.

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by bgoodman4

I completely agree but the reason the systems were un-bootable was because, as indicated in the provided links, KOR was using a version of the software that was not built for his system. Horizon is completely to blame for this but Horizon and Rx are not one and the same thing and to blame the program for the error (or stupidity) of Horizon is simply wrong. I would also point out that KOR indicated that Rx performed quite well during the trial period, well enough in fact for him to actually pay for 3 licences. Thats when his problems began and these problems were clearly not the fault of the software.

Dear Barry,

Like I said, I liked Rollback Rx and for this reason I bought three licenses. However, as I have previously mentioned that wrong version was not the only reason my dissatisfaction with Rollback Rx. Once this was sorted out, I still wanted to continue. Then the activation/deactivation problems started and added to that, one of my laptop become un-bootable thus loosing the Rollback Rx console. So, what was Rollback Rx good for?

As far as, HDS the maker of Rollback Rx is concerned, in my opinion I found them to be unethical. Their false advertisement, one of the examples which I have posted above.

Added to above, recently they appointed MagiCure to sell their Rollback Rx packaged as MagiCure. This re-branded MagiCure, once again doesn't work with SSDs. It is basically, a very, very old version.

They sold MagiCure on Bitdujour claiming that they are:

1. Maker of Rollback Rx and not HDS.
2. They have the most current version.
3. They will give lifetime updates, not charging the heavy yearly maintenance fee charged by HDS.

Of course MagiCure sold the old, old version which doesn't work with SSDs and they don't have any intention for lifetime updates. HDS sat silently throughout this episode.

When a user of Widlers' community uses pirated software, the whole community is up in arms. However, when a software vendor uses unethical practices, then the same users come to their rescue.

Best regards,

P.S. Enough said!

[2YsUR]

Originally Posted by aladdin

1. With the purchase email I got a link to download Rollback Rx for the purchased version which I did.
2. I uninstalled the earlier Rollback Rx and installed the Rollback Rx from the link.
3. On installation, there is an option to check for latest version, which I did every time. And, every time I got the confirmation that I am using the latest version.

When I made my purchase in late March 2012 I also received a download that was one version back. I suspect that their check for latest version just doesn't work or their sales site is not in snyc with the HDS site as far as download version.

I suggest new users download directly from the HDS site:http://www.horizondatasys.com/309198.ihtml and verify the version number by checking Rollback's release notes here: http://www.horizondatasys.com/177440.ihtml

[2YsUR]

Originally Posted by pegr

I don't think anybody (including me) would find it surprising. That said, there are degrees of not working and leaving a system completely unbootable is pretty high up the scale in terms of severity. I think we all agree on the advisability of having a recent image handy before testing new software.

Unfortunately, when this type of software has a serious problem it is very serious.
Prior to purchase I did scan the rollback forum at HDS and could only find 1 or 2 such problems
so I went ahead with the purchase.

Contrast that with CTM's forums where major failure seems to be the norm.

Edit: I have been using RBrx without any issues.

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by 2YsUR

Unfortunately, when this type of software has a serious problem it is very serious.
Prior to purchase I did scan the rollback forum at HDS and could only find 1 or 2 such problems
so I went ahead with the purchase.

Contrast that with CTM's forums where major failure seems to be the norm.

Edit: I have been using RBrx without any issues.

CTM is a free program and people use it without knowing anything about it. And, it is not being developed anymore.

Rollback Rx is paid program and a very expensive paid program. So people who use it, do their research before throwing their money. Due to being a very expansive paid program the development on Rollback Rx continues.

Comparing CTM with Rollback Rx is comparing apples with oranges.

BTW, anyone who has problem with Rollback Rx, they are told by the Adm of Rollback Rx Forum to open a ticket, so we further don't hear about them. Hush, hush!

They said the same to me too, but I went ahead and posted on their forum so to keep an open record of it.

Best regards,

[pegr]

Originally Posted by aladdin

I still think that Rollback Rx and SD both being virtualization software, together on the same system is overkill. The reason SD is used with Rollback Rx, as the later doesn't protect from rootkits.

The reason I dabbled with Rollback Rx was, SD doesn't work with SSDs properly due to its age and the known reasons for it not being updated.

Now I am happily trying Deep Freeze on all my four personal computers with SSDs without any ill effects so far.

I agree that, for me too, two ISR utilities together on the same system would be an overkill. From my perspective, neither of these utilities are strictly necessary as imaging is all that is really needed. Even if I didn't have SD, in the unlikely event of a malware infection getting past both the AV and AppGuard on my system, backed up by Sandboxie on demand, I would simply restore the system from a clean image. When it comes to testing software that requires a reboot, I currently restore an image to uninstall it anyway after I've finished testing.

As I see it, for a home user such as myself the main advantage of ISR utilities is the convenience of a rapid restore of the system to a previous state. I can see that both Rx and SD each have advantages and disadvantages but, for me personally, I wouldn't run both together. Running both together wouldn't add much, and might increase the risk of a conflict, resulting in one or both of the applications not working as intended, or possibly even an unbootable system.

Thanks for the information that SD doesn't work properly with SSDs. I already know that I will have to drop SD at some point in the future and look for an alternative when I update my hardware. I may look to rollback software or I may try another light virtualization solution. I tried Deep Freeze in the past and it worked well. The reason I went with SD at the time was because it was more flexible than Deep Freeze, and was still being updated by the developer when I purchased a license. I don't recall Data Igloo being available when I last tried Deep Freeze so I might consider trying that in conjunction with Deep Freeze.

Thanks again.

Kind regards

[pegr]

Originally Posted by 2YsUR

Unfortunately, when this type of software has a serious problem it is very serious.
Prior to purchase I did scan the rollback forum at HDS and could only find 1 or 2 such problems
so I went ahead with the purchase.

Contrast that with CTM's forums where major failure seems to be the norm.

Edit: I have been using RBrx without any issues.

Thanks for replying. The fact that there can be problems with this kind of software wouldn't put me off trying it as I could always restore the system from an image if things went horribly wrong. As you say, there haven't been that many reports of Rx behaving badly. I don't think I'd be brave enough to try CTM though even if Comodo do relaunch it. I assume that CTM used a similar approach to Rx but maybe it just wasn't as well coded.

Kind regards

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by pegr

I agree that, for me too, two ISR utilities together on the same system would be an overkill. From my perspective, neither of these utilities are strictly necessary as imaging is all that is really needed. Even if I didn't have SD, in the unlikely event of a malware infection getting past both the AV and AppGuard on my system, backed up by Sandboxie on demand, I would simply restore the system from a clean image. When it comes to testing software that requires a reboot, I currently restore an image to uninstall it anyway after I've finished testing.

As I see it, for a home user such as myself the main advantage of ISR utilities is the convenience of a rapid restore of the system to a previous state. I can see that both Rx and SD each have advantages and disadvantages but, for me personally, I wouldn't run both together. Running both together wouldn't add much, and might increase the risk of a conflict, resulting in one or both of the applications not working as intended, or possibly even an unbootable system.

Thanks for the information that SD doesn't work properly with SSDs. I already know that I will have to drop SD at some point in the future and look for an alternative when I update my hardware. I may look to rollback software or I may try another light virtualization solution. I tried Deep Freeze in the past and it worked well. The reason I went with SD at the time was because it was more flexible than Deep Freeze, and was still being updated by the developer when I purchased a license. I don't recall Data Igloo being available when I last tried Deep Freeze so I might consider trying that in conjunction with Deep Freeze.

Thanks again.

Kind regards

Dear pegr,

Excellent post!

Best regards,

[2YsUR]

Originally Posted by Wendi

Yes, as a matter of fact I believe Scott W posted in another thread that we will likely see the 60% discount sale around the 4th of July! So if all continues to go well up to that time, I will jump on any Rollback sale.

Just noticed that RBrx has been on sale for the last few days. Sale ends at midnight July 4th. See HDS Sale Post.

[Smuck]

Hi. I have followed this discussion because I was wondering about the better of RB vs SD. I'm getting a new PC in a few weeks that I have ordered customized with only one 60Gb SSD drive for system and everything else on harddrive.

I have thought about locking the system with deep freeze, but what do you recommend?

It is supposed to be an entertainment PC for home use. Very often I will install a new game just to try it and get rid of again. So I'll need directx updates and redistributable packages to goto system, while the game goes to harddrive and I don't want the games to leave menus in the system as they often forget when uninstalled. Shortcuts to games kept I want them in their own folder on harddrive.

The only issue which does not relate to this debate is that I would also like the save game folder to be on harddrive instead of system. And I think using symlinks could solve that.

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by Smuck

Hi. I have followed this discussion because I was wondering about the better of RB vs SD. I'm getting a new PC in a few weeks that I have ordered customized with only one 60Gb SSD drive for system and everything else on harddrive.

I have thought about locking the system with deep freeze, but what do you recommend?

It is supposed to be an entertainment PC for home use. Very often I will install a new game just to try it and get rid of again. So I'll need directx updates and redistributable packages to goto system, while the game goes to harddrive and I don't want the games to leave menus in the system as they often forget when uninstalled. Shortcuts to games kept I want them in their own folder on harddrive.

The only issue which does not relate to this debate is that I would also like the save game folder to be on harddrive instead of system. And I think using symlinks could solve that.

1. SD doesn't work with most SSDs as it has not been developed for a very long time. SD and SSDs are hit and miss.

2. Rollback Rx is crap and will eat up your hard disk space in no time, thus giving you lots of headaches, especially if your SSD is so small being 60GB only.

3. Deep Freeze is the best and works excellently with SSDs. You can update things in the thaw state.

Best regards,

[Smuck]

Thx.

So I'll just use Deep Freeze Standard on SSD system drive and move the user folder to harddisk with other programs.

I would still have to protect the user folder on 1TB harddisk (user drive) while installing new games/programs?

[aladdin]

Originally Posted by Smuck

Thx.

So I'll just use Deep Freeze Standard on SSD system drive and move the user folder to harddisk with other programs.

I would still have to protect the user folder on 1TB harddisk (user drive) while installing new games/programs?

Deep Freeze like SD allows you to protect more than one partition/disk at the same time. On your hard disk keep the partition of your user folder on a separate partition and unprotected. And, keep the other programs (new games/programs) on a separate partition and protected.

Best regards,

[Smuck]

Thx I think that will work.