Deep Freeze. (Ultimate System Restore) Anyone using here it too.

Easter DeepFreeze is fine for me and has been no problem. I have 2 copies and use it on machines which tend to remain static - just windows updates, crap cleaner. I only freeze C: and have the outlook pst on a data drive together with
Firefox profiles.

Is it any better than Returnil et al ? well powershadow is out because it activates to one machine and has no simple way to reactivate to another + it crashed every so often. Shadow Defender caused a problem when I tried to restore an image having forgotten to turn off protection. So for me its Returnil and DeepFeeze.

If Returnil go for an annual charge rather than a one off payment I would probably go for DeepFreeze.

 

post #7 in this thread ?

 

I've been using a DF for 6 months on 2 different systems and haven't experienced anything bad. Its been a rock solid, quality product just like AE.

 

A software that damages hardware ? That is ridiculous.
If they can't say anything bad anymore about a software, they tell you it damages your hardware, just because they don't use it themselves and they like to disappoint you.
If a software isn't working properly and they can't find the real cause, they blame the hardware.

I've read the same thing about PowerShadow and FDISR, your HDD will have a shorter life.
I ignore all these silly remarks. If I ever use DeepFreeze, my hardware will be the least of my worries.
The only reason why I don't use DeepFreeze is because it's not versatile enough as an ISR-software, not because of my BIOS chip.

 

CIH virus, copy-protection software and optical drives, software using 100 % of the CPU for long time causing it to overheat. Softwares that damages hardware are very rare, but not inexistent

 

Yes, but there is a difference : DeepFreeze is not a malware, CIH virus is.
I can destroy many things on my computer and in general life, if I want to by using it the wrong way.
Give me a disk editor and I can destroy my whole harddisk too.

Regarding the CIH Virus I read this :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIH_virus
Does that mean I'm immune for this virus, if I have a winXP computer ?

 

With a disk editor you destroy the data, not the disk.

It seems so.

 

Well, I had this one in mind : Julie Lau's Sector Editor v1.05., which I consider as a disk editor. (maybe my English is not good).
Sector, isn't that a part of a disk ?

 

Thanks for all the feedback. I feel relieved now that those are just rumours and not to be taken seriously.

Looks like i'm going to do a DEEP FREEZE on one of my HD's and if everything proceeds as i expect, Faronic's just made another sale. I am head over heals about AE already, it's simple, stable, and puts "ME" the user IN CONTROL! That's the way i expect from any program, after all, i get a say in how and what happens on my own machine, and i admire software that's automated just enough to secure it but still leaves open an option to change my mind when i want.

 

Yes DeepFreeze and Anti-Executable must be a strong combination, if you add security softwares, that do what AE doesn't do. Both are well hidden and password-protected. Very professional.
It's a pity, you can't rollback to an unused system partition, unless you restore an image.

 

That disk editor (and others) only wipes the content of a sector. There's no physical damage.

 

DF seems like a pain, if you don't want it messing with your OS and restore it then you need to reboot it thawed, then make changes you'd like in a thawed mode so nothing gets reverted back, then reboot and then set it Frozen again.

I don't know but this seems like a bit of rebooting and pain just to make changes...

I thought the point of DF was to protect it from unwanted changes, like form viruses, and malware, was all?

I just made a test folder with a test.txt file it, and rebooted with DF on, and it deleted the folder.

I don't see then how someone works in a Freeze mode on their desktop without everything always getting deleted and removed?

 

I'm not sure that you've embraced the concept yet - the idea is to run frozen all the time, thawing only for the infrequent times you need to initiate a system change (install, uninstall, etc.)

That's actually the point - it's by design.

It does - they are removed on a restart.

It takes advance planning and some adjustment of a typical system - you need an unfrozen partition or a removeable drive and you need to locate dynamic content there. In the enterprise level product, a virtual partition can be created on a single partition system.

Blue

 

I thought the concept here was just to remove malware/suspect files was all, not to remove legitimate files and work, so that is where I made the mistake, as it says on their site:

Deep Freeze instantly protects and preserves baseline computer configurations. No matter what changes a user makes to a workstation, simply restart to eradicate all changes and reset the computer to its original state - right down to the last byte.

My misunderstanding, I thought this protection was for only malware changes not legitimate changes...

I can understand the point of protecting a partition and keeping it intact for no changes, I just wanted this for a HOME box was all, and for that it seems a little extreme.

It doesn't look like that difficult a piece of software, not much to it from the end-user stand point of doing anything.

For HOME users I don't get who would go to all this trouble to install Windows on a small partition just for the OS and DF, and just use that partition as example only for surfing, and nothing dynamic and then do all the dynamic work on D. To put it simply that would be the easiest way to go about it for a HOME user, but then that means you better not have DF watching the D partition either, but then if someone installs something infected into that partition, then you've sorted defeated the idea here for whole protection of a complete drive.

I see the point to DF for a corporate/business setting, but it would of been nice if they made a DF Home version that only dealt with malware removal and changes to a system nothing else, so a home user could use C just like it's typically used and worked on for most home users.

 

The concept of Deep Freeze is to remove anything added (or undo any changes) since the machine was frozen. Keep the target market in mind - public access and institutional use PC's where unwanted and continual casual user changes are the typical bane.

The answer is you either change the way you work or the system configuration. For example - relocate Documents and Settings to an alternate partition. Once you do that, usage is transparent and the work files are preserved. As I mentioned, there are other options available in the enterprise level product (typically including access to network drives).

Well, given their quoted installed base in their target market, plenty.

Blue

 

I edited my reply before you replied look again.

It looks like maybe the 'Mapping Tool' provides the user some flexibility where possibly typical home users are concerned.

 

That appears to be the case, but I've not used it personally.

Blue

 

Blue is On-Target as always yet again.

DEEP FREEZE in my honest opinion for most will not for very long appeal to a single drive/machine user nor should expect to be unless they don't mind the occasional REBOOT TO THAW to add items then back to FROZEN state. But then again theres always some flexibility in dual-boot set ups etc. and of course the MAPPING TOOL to take some of the sting out of the Standard version's sealtight concept.

AFAIK this type of approach is exclusive and IS really better suited (as mentioned) for public or even some private industry networked set ups where there you get into the ENTERPRISE level of DF, which is quite the concept and advantage in those environments.

For home (Standard) users however, it is still yet another solid & reliable alternative to keeping your system safely in-check.

 

This is a great and simple program, I personally don't get why they haven't expanded on it, and made a DF Home version just for virus/malware changes is all, hmmm...

Maybe it's time to email and let them know how great this would be...

Hmm, Hmm, Hmm...

Oh lookie a feedback section:

http://www.faronics.com/html/feedback.asp

 

Well, from a straightforward commercial business perspective - they have a clear core competency that they have succeeded in and serve well. Perhaps they've made a conscious decision to focus on that strength. Yes, additional sales would accrue if they went to the home market, but support costs would rise dramatically. They're in a very good niche at the moment.

Blue

 

Well I sent them a nice reply with some good ideas and input, hope they'll reply and tell me what they're thinking.

 

100% AGREE have same isue with SD when restore img 2...sysytem take to load very veryyy long time. remove SD and all load like normal

cheers

 

thanks for reminding me. Yesterday I bought a copy of Shadow Defender. As far as I can tell the problem with restoring to a frozen C: is now fixed in version 1.1.0.216 beta if i try to use Acronis to restore to a frozen (shadowed) C: the restore faila and now the machine reboots correctly. Restoring to an unfrozen C:
does seem to take a little bit longer (9 minutes rather than 7) and on my old Pentium 4 ( soon to be deceased) initial launches do seem just that bit slower.
As I'm going to put this program on a fast machine I don't think it really matters.
I do wonder though how deepfreeze, Returnil, and Shadow Defender operate.
are they all equally suited performance wise or is one better than the others on lower spec machines ? I think for older machines DeepFreeze might have the edge.

 

Yes I agree with you Demoneye, this is one ofthe most significant things for me, Shadow Defender crawls (for me) on reboot at times when under load...one of my reboots was nearly five minutes...the computer was chattering away to itself...I went away for a cup of tea.
Deep Freeze boots up as normal.
I like Shadow Defender a lot...if all of the changes that Tony hopes to make, happen and some of the problems were ironed out, (such as Nero needing to be re-activated occasionally and the reboot time length problem) it could be a fantastic program and more useable (for me) than deep Freeze...but Deep Freeze has a "solid" "feel"