new computer, want to keep it pristine

I'm in the process of a clean install of Win XP Home at the moment. Then I think I'll give Returnil a whirl. I tried this app last night / early this morning and had issues getting it to turn protection off. I did install w/ Protection OFF, create virtual partition, set scheduling for app updates... Looks good, except for turning protection off thing. I think I can live w/ that issue though.

I've got ~a week before I need to turn this machine over to her, so I have time to fool w/ everything

...screamer

 

yes.....

 

Pete, I'm not qualified to say if it is a good password protection scheme but, yes, it does have one . I don't use it myself but it appears that you can set up as many users as you like and individually configure their access to the various actions available.

The configurable items are:
Rollback system
Take snapshot
Change password
Change program settings
Schedule rollback
Recover files
Update baseline
Delete snapshots
Reset to baseline
Schedule new snapshots
Set data security
Delete program logs

Any of these which are normally available via the sub-console would also be password protected there as well. Of course, you can also change the key to invoke the sub-console as well as hiding it on bootup.

Graham

 

Hi screamer,

if you plan to use windows xp for your daughter you should give a try at Windows SteadyState. It is free and since you do not want multiple snapshots it should be ok for your setup. It can be instructed to retain updates of the OS and of antivirus programs.

 

Would Altiris SVS, along with good antivirus etc be an option? This would save her losing anything on a reboot using Returnil.

I'm 62 yrs old and it only took me three days to figure out how to use the basics in Altiris. I finally got my neighbor and his son over here. The kid had never seen Altiris before. He had it figured out in barely fifteen minutes and walked me through it. Piece of cake.............................NOW. I was doing it correctly from the start, by the way, but was too stupid to realize it.

Altiris isn't security and isn't intended to be, but all school work she did in Word or OpenOffice would be saved in layers, and anything else she installed such as games or whatever, would be in its layer and never touch the HD.

 

I feel for you man. I set up a Dell for my daughter, and her 2 daughters 10yrs, and 12 yrs. old. The 12 year old uses computers in school, has no fear and thinks she knows what she's doing. My Daughter is totally computer illiterate and can't even tell you what's wrong when she has a problem. I am constantly going over to my Daughters house to save their bacon. It's actually good practice for me but who needs it.

 

Hello,
Would using non-MS OS be even considered as an option?
Mrk

 

hahaha, yeah, I'm there now, been there and will be there for a coupla years to come. The one in college knows "Everything" about computers... This is why she's on her second one in as many years. If it's possible for it to autostart on logon, she has it, but wants to know why her box takes sooo long to start. I tell her, and I get an argument. Actually I was happy just let her go to the library to use theirs, but the wife... Geez, I can't win. Not only do I need to pay for it, I need to set it up & make it foolproof / bulletproof.

...screamer

btw: tried Returnil, couldn't get it to boot into a thawed mode
tried the MS app (name escapes me) Pain in the ass
Tried DeepFreeze, wont work for this situation. No external drive

Just sent an e-mail to Horizon Data about their Drive Vaccine PC restore app. If it does actually have a partition to save files to, I'll give it another shot

Pete: you are correct, she needs to submit here papers in MS Word. That's the way the assingments are posted also.

 

Open Office under Linux reads almost all the MS Office formats, I have had no problems opening MS Office documents in my years of running Linux, I teach in a university so I do get a lot of them. As for bulletproof and foolproof OS which will need minimal user intervention after setup as well as no chance of the user running it leading to all sorts of issues. No need for imaging or system restore in Linux, as a novice, you simply can't ruin a Linux install as you are always on a non root account. No need to tell the user to keep updates for the virus program checked or download latest programs and signature for the HIPS. If the HIPS asks for permission for a particular program, the panicked user would have to rush to the original installer, now all this is not the case with Linux.

 

Good on you Arup.

 

hmm, no malice whatsoever, p2150... M$_WORD ability as a fully functional WProc is not imperative in course works. OpenOfc can do that job as well, more so with its recently relased v2.0., both at opening/editing/saving to & from .doc format. Same too for OpenOfc's .xls & .ppt equivalent of M$-Ofc's.

And if you're not satisfied with the extensiveness of OpenOfc's templates... then use the openSource version of STARofc (which is the most closely knitted with M$ WORD's). Either one of these 2 open source apps were substantially lighter than that sumo-size & sec-nightmarish M$-Office Suite!

As far as AV is concern, AV-Libres are available for Linux (anyFlavour). Just browse for one, dwnload & bolt it on. Therefore, that's no problemo either.

re: arupOn the otherhand... the intended user was a college lady, who had never touch a Penguin in her whole life, and so does her dad who - started this post. Therefore Arup...let's do a K.I.S.S.

...for the benefit of the college gal, ok?

------------------
EDITED: missed words

 

I have Word 2002, have seen and used 2007 but don't see the point of changing, and have OpenOffice 2.3.

Other than Word having a sometimes useful grammar check, I much prefer OpenOffice. One problem with that I've found in Word is, when you approach the 175 page mark in a novel, it will sometimes (not always) begin messing up the formatting. OpenOffice is rock solid in that respect.

OpenOffice can also save in Word format, although the formatting is sometimes screwed up in places on long documents.

 

I am not forcing anyone to use Linux, just pointing it out as an option, its entirely up to the person to use whatsoever he or she wants.So in your words you are banning the mention the mere mention of Linux as an alternative to MS forever. Fair enough, its apparent you have no idea about today's Linux and its evident your perceptions are based on the days of Linux where one had to install from Kernel onward. In that case, I would ask for a voluntary ban as well, what good is a forum where you are being forbidden to post your views and options. I guess GOD is the synonym for MOD here. I am glad to have been given the opportunity to post here and have made good associations and this forum has enriched my perspective about security and software in general, but now its time for goodbye.

About OO versus MS Office, OO is far more stable with way less issues and if you get OO Oxygen, it has everything you need compared to MS Office except the hype but I guess, hype is the norm here. OO is free so it will never get the respect of a $700 suite.

 

Open Office Oxygen Never heard of it. Guess I'll have to find it and take a look. I can see another download in my future if it's anywhere as good as OO 2.3.

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ooop

Its 2.3 with many more features including VBA support.

 

Just as an update: I partitioned C: into C & F w/ Disk Director. I'm using Returnil. It seems to be behaving better after 4 re-installs. All my updates, scans and de-frags are done during a thaw period from 1am -> 5am.

I put the My Docs folder into F and I'm attempting to use SyncBack to back-up the Firefox Profile folder to ( F) on Logoff or Shutdown. Then sync back to (C) on Logon. It's gonna take a little tweaking, but I'm confident that I can get something acceptable to handle the Bookmarks issue.

I don't remember where I read that the Firefox Profile has to be in the system partition and not on separate partition / external HDD. Can anyone confirm this and perhaps save me some fiddling around?

If anyone has a suggestion on this part, I'd love to hear it.

...screamer

 

This might be of help came up in another thread.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=1088521&postcount=7
from this thread
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=187197

 

Since it's not really been mentioned and I would assume that Returnil will implement this type of functionality at some point, have you considered either ShadowDefender ($35) or ShadowUser Pro ($70)? Same basic idea as Returnil, but you are able to define excluded drives and/or folders or files (vs the scheduled thaw). Not sure if either is better/worse for your needs. See Which Shadow Program and Why? for some additional discussion.

Blue

 

a different tack ...


FD ISR for when it gets messed up

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