Opinions on Deep Freeze

More and more companies are moving to a rentware model. For example Adobe now is pushing customers towards the cloud and you can use the software as long as you are paying the monthly fee. Stop paying and you can no longer use the program(s). These companies are looking for ways to develop a steady cash flow rather than getting periodic larger inflows such as when a new version of the program is released and then slower cash inflows until the next version. I can understand their desire for this but there is no way I want to participate in it. I would rather pay for the item upfront and then be able to use it for as long as I like.

 

Good morning,

If you add Deep Freeze (DF) to the shopping cart, you see that you can contact Faronics to inquire about a Perpetual License:



So, I phoned to get information on their current Deep Freeze (DF) licensing packages.

The DF Standard version Perpetual License is $50 + $10.00 (required) for a one-year maintenance package.
This would provide a free upgrade should one come out during the year.
The one-year maintenance package is renewable each year (optional) for $10.00.

You can email customerservice {at} faronics . com
or phone 800-943-6422, ext. 0

Faronics will send you a quote (PDF).

Disclaimer: I do not work for Faronics; just an interested user.

regards,

-rich

 

Just as I expected the latest Version does have some issues on Windows 8 Environments. It denies Access to certain Folders and files on my 3TB HDD although I set the program to not freeze this HDD it does somehow interfere. Also some Images can't be mounted on Windows 8 while in frozen mode. I don't really get it...A Company like faronics should do better than this

 

found out what caused the Problems. I downloaded deepfreeze and immediately put the installer on my 3TB harddrive and installed the program from there. Like I said I experienced Problems with that 3TB harddrive while in frozen mode and the reason for that was simply that the installer was executed from that harddrive.

I uninstalled deepfreeze and reinstalled it. But before Installation I removed all harddrives that won't run frozen anyway and uninstalled them from device Manager. Now everything is running just fine.

This seems to be a bug though because the Location from where the installer is run will be frozen no matter if you unchecked it during Installation. They have to fix this but with this Workaround it runs just fine.

 

Thanks for clearing that one up Rmus.

 

Deep Freeze made my OS crash as I reverted back. I'm using an SSD drive for OS. I had to re-install everything...

 

So what happens when you don't renew the license? A) You can no longer use the program or B) You are no longer given any updates to the program?

If it's B then I would consider getting one. If it's A then it's a rentware in my eyes.

 

When you buy something, you own it for the rest of your life. There is no time bomb in it that it will stop working after a year. However, you are not entitled to minor upgrades if you don't renew after a year.

Best regards,

 

Really nice. Looks like they stepping into my direction. Now another question. What happens if you don't renew after a year. Can you still renew for $10 after 2 or 3 years?

 

I would like to know that as well. My guess is that you might have to buy a completely new license then because if you could renew your license for 10$ even after years then everybody would wait for program updates that fit their Needs and just pay when they gain a big Advantage of program updates. I'm not sure though. My license Ends in june this year and I would rather pay 10 bucks to renew than having to purchase the program again for like 35$. I will continue to use the program anyway.

 

Yeah that's a critical point for me. I do not accept rentware but I am willing to pay yearly upgrades as long as I am not forced into them. I will not however be forced into paying yearly $10 or loose upgrade ability forever.
They can either get from me one time $60 and $10 every now and then or get nothing at all. There is plenty of free alternatives to keep my computer safe. And I have managed so far pretty well with them.

 

I've seen DF in lots of places, even my high school and current college uses it. Seems like it is a good software.

 

Version 7.61 runs great on Windows 8 so far.

 

or maybe it's not running perfectly....

It freezes all my internal harddisks no matter which harddrives you unchecked during Installation for a thawspace. I unchecked my 3TB Seagate Barracuda during Installation to save files on it while C:\ and D:\ are in frozen mode.

Deepfreeze puts all harddrives to frozen state no matter what. Can't save any files now which sucks teh ballz

Opened a ticket but no Response from Faronics so far. Seems like they have some issues with 7.61 if you compare the fixes to the known issues in that release.

 

Thanks for that info, I will buy DF for my Mac, running DF in my Pc I am having a lot of problems...

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=345488

Came

 

Please keep us informed when their explainations are returned for you. Gathering from your experience that obviously seems to be a valid issue. Seems like i had a similar experience on XP Pro when installing with other IDE channels were tied in on a multi setup i had. Pulling the plug from them and then installing DF onto the "single" drive was the workaround then too.

Regards Easter

 

Is there any particular reason why i would buy this when there are free options available.?

 

received an email yesterday. Here it is:

"Dear xxxxxx.

Thank you for you patience regarding this problem. We have escalated the problems you are having with having a a 3 TB hard drive marked as Thawed being Frozen to our developers who are currently looking at this problem. We will let you know what they have determined as the problem and how it will be resolved.

Regards,

xxxxxxxx


Glad that they still care about the Problem and try to fix it.

 

Thanks Arcanez for sharing that little piece of news with us today.

 

fixed the Problem with Deepfreeze and my 3TB HDD myself. The solution is quiet simple but Faronics didn't mention it in my ticket. Deepfreeze simply can't handle huge Thawspaces so you have to make sure that the thawspace is not bigger than 1TB ( I think that's the Maximum value that Deepfreeze can handle).

So I created a new Partition from my 3TB HDD that has 500GB space and and use this as the thawed Partition. All the other Partitions are set to frozen state and now Deepfreeze works properly. No issues at all!

The Support however should have mentioned it because they should know their Software better than any customer. Nevertheless the Problem is fixed for me now.

 

Sometimes the front line people don't know the particulars of certain things and they send it along to the development team. However, max size should be known to them. I use it on all of my computers - Deep Freeze is a great program, hope you enjoy the simplicity!

 

maybe someone can clarify a few things here:

I currently use a subscription license 1yr for Deepfreeze and this license will end in about a week. Deepfreeze already Shows a warning that basically tells me to buy a new license because after my current one expires Deepfreeze will automatically go into thawed state and you won't be able to freeze your Computer without a new license.

Now I'm about to buy a perpetual license which doesn't run out after 1 year. I got an offer from a Distributor which is responsible for Deepfreeze products in my Country and they offered me a perpetual license with 60month maintenance...

This one was quiet expensive so I thought it would be sufficient to buy a perpetual license with 1 year maintenance...

My question is: Do I have the freedom to decide when to buy a maintence renew for my perpetual license or will you be stuck with the latest Version if you don't renew the maintence period?

So if you don't renew for like 2-3 years will you still be able to renew the perpetual license after all These years for like ~10$??

 

If you use hot-plug/hot-swap by eSata/Sata connections I would stay away unless you don't mind random BSOD on diconnecting or turning off the drive(s) (USB3 BSOD was fixed with the latest release, but eSata/Sata BSOD has been on going for a year or so without a fix). Other than that DF worked well last couple years.

Went to Deep Freeze when Tony went missing couple years ago, now that he's back I switched back to Shadow Defender, mostly because of the DF BSOD. No problems SD latest beta so far.

edit:
Not sure if using the latest beta from home site July 8 includes Sinowal fix or not, the older link from forum Sinowal fix beta link is down from April. If it does SD should be more secure than current DF:

DF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpkD_nKdGqQ

SD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTLuTjufQkU

 

I gave up on all the drama when "Tony" didn't sign-in on his old Wilders account. All he had to do was sign-in and say, "I'm back!." He didn't. Is SD open source now? If not, after all that "Tony went missing" drama, I wouldn't touch it. Period.

Deep Freeze is the first - and the best.

.

 

No, Shadow Defender is not opensource. There is actually a lot of development with SD right now. New features have been added to SD this year, and several more will be added soon. New beta builds are being released. You just need to visit the Official SD forum which Patrick started about 4 months ago. One new feature that has been added is "encrypt write cache". I believe Tony is working on MBR protection where the MBR is virtualized, and also a drop my rights feature similar to running in a LUA using Policy based restriction. All new features added will be optional, and turned off by default. Here is the link to SD's official forum. http://www.shadowdefenderforum.com/