Shadow Defender & Deep Freeze

Hi,

I've been trying these two virtualization softwares on a spare computer at home. Their interfaces look somewhat different but deep down they are supposed to do the same. Deep Freeze has the “Boot Frozen” option so you can start running on a “virtual OS”, make changes, reboot and any changes you made or any malware infection would be gone. Shadow Defender, on the other hand, calls this state “Shadow Mode” which is basically the same and does the same as DF.

I'd like to go for one of these two but I'd like to know your opinions about which one performs better, let's say in the event of a Trojan/Rootkit infection and then a reboot.


I know some here will write that SD is no longer being developed and that version 1.0.331 is shady and the best version would be 1.0325 whereas DF is still being developed. But, putting that ASIDE, which one would be better for a home PC if I had to choose between these two?


Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

Hi Zyrtec,
They are both excellent, and behave similarly, but SD has some advantages for home users: You can commit just about anything with a couple of clicks or you can exclude file and folders from being shadowed (with DF it can also be done but it is more complicated). You can enter shadow mode without a reboot (DF needs a reboot). One can also keep all changes from the shadow volume when rebooting (useful when testing an application) with DF it can't be done.

These are the main differences as far as features are concerned. In terms of security DF has been breached in the past (although I think it is very safe to use it with 99.9% of malware) and Faronics has been slow to address these issues. SD as far as I know has never been bypassed, but for how long it will remain impenetrable is probably anybody's guess, as the developer vanished.

DF has been mainly designed for institutions, SD had always had the home user in mind.

 

Hi Osaban,

Thanks a lot for your clear, straight to the point and concise answer. This is basically what I wanted to know before making a decision on which one of these products to choose for my wife's laptop since she's not that computer savvy and every now and then, some fake AVs make it through her laptop.

That feature about file exclusions is a plus on SD so she can exclude personal documents she works on for school.


Best regards.

 

Zyrtec, you are welcome. My wife and my son have been using SD systematically for every session and it is more than two years now without any problems or infections.

 

Can't go wrong with either one IMO. I've used both for years,never an issue.

 

You can exclude and save files with the igloo extension with Deep freeze. Like osaban said SD hasn't been breached. Deep freeze has been breached. Just to add, even though deep freeze has the igloo feature, SD is easier to access and use. I have it on my kids desktop, just in case they do something silly.

 

These two (SD & DF) are the Best ones!
I have used both of them without a problem!