Roll back/Go back-software - Which is the best?

As far as I know, RollbackRx can,t be used in multi-boot environment. Am I true?

 

You are wrong - the manual , installation all support it.

 

Indeed a very promising future. But FD defense will be revised some time soon ish so ..... who knows

 

Thank you som much for all the great suggestions.

I have uppdated my list.

Backontrack
Deepfreeze
Drive vaccine
Goback
Raxco first defense
Restoreit
Rollback rx
Shadowuser
Super win winrescue xp
Vcom recovery commander (Fix it utilities)
Winrollback

Remarkably I my computer started to return "blue screen" again this morning which makes my implementation of any of the above solutions more urgent. I finally got out of the situation by deactivating the function for network attacks in Kaspersky.

I have decided to try out all the above programs on a computer I don't use. First I will install the programs and next delete vital parts of Windows, restart the computer and see what happens and which of the programs that most easily and reliably gets me back to a point before the deletion.

Thank you again!

 

starfish, I believe aigle's statement to the effect that Rollback can not be used in a multi-boot environment is correct.

I can't find where in the Rollback manual or faq's it says otherwise, but in every instance (that I'm aware of) it is necessary for a multi-boot program to modify the MBR in order to setup a multi-boot environment. Rollback, FDISR, GoBack, and most other system-restore programs require total control of the MBR, so they can not co-exist within that environment.

The only exception to this that I'm aware of (and it's not really a multi-boot environment) is a virtual-drive environment (such as VMware) because the system-restore program sees the virtual-drive as just another file.

~pv

 

Try the manual again

Rb Rx professional - chapter 2 page page 17

Installation Custom setup - It is a small side note but there. I confirmed it before installing on my multi boot system.

Some more than others but generally a good rule

 

Hmm, you are right- it's there (though it's rather inconspicuous). ...live and learn I always say...

Btw, which multi-boot program are you using? ~pv

 

I remeber when I wanted to do dual boot XP with linux, I sent them a mail and they told me Rollback is not recommended in this multiboot environment.

 

I used an older version of GoBack for five years, before it was owned by Norton. Since I have not used a recent version own by Norton, this post may be way off mark BUT I am going to ASSume that GoBack is still as good as it was back then and say this:

While using GoBack for five years, it was flawless and never let me down. I discovered, from reading Usenet and many forums, that all the folks having trouble with GoBack did not know how to use it properly.

Now, that being said, let me say this -- FirstDefense blows Goback out of the water!!

Acadia

 

Yup, every time that I defragged, I had to shut down GB; even if GB could keep up with all of the file activity, hearing my poor hard drive thrashing around like that was simply too much.

Also, my first attempt at installing WindowsXP SP2 back in 2004 was a failure (my fault) and resulted in the dreaded no-boot scenario. With FirstDefense I simply rebooted into another Snapshot and had my entire system recovered in 5-10 minutes; my second attempt at installing SP2 was a success. Had I been using GoBack during that first attempt, I know that GoBack would not have been able to handle all of the file changing for that huge Service Pack; it would have shut itself down and I would have been stuck with an unbootable system.

Acadia

 

The manual is poor in this area my sense is that it only support a windows multi boot environment. I boot XP and MCE 2005 without any major problems

I think I would ask before trying GRUB or Acronis OS selector - I doubt they would work with it

 

Hello,

I'm also still using the last version of Roxio's GoBack on my dual boot laptop (Win98 Second Edition & Win XP SP2) and have used it happily for many years. It saved me and my Thinkpad many times for sure.
I've always used it together with many versions of Diskeeper (at this moment Diskeeper 10 Professional Premier) and Diskeeper's 'Set and Forget'-option makes it possible for GoBack to return in time for on average 5 to 7 days.

Kind regards,

PeterVO

 

I am comparing RollbackRx and FDISR. Are there any problems using FDISR with a disk defrag program? Can FDISR be used with True Image? I dont see any answers in their literature. Also I am not really clear on what the problem some people are having with Rollback. Is it because the snapshots cannot be used for returning the system to an earlier state? I have had this problem several times with Windows restore, which is why I am looking for an alternate program

 

Yes, FD can be used with TrueImage, but the Pre-boot option should be disabled while creating and restoring an image.

There can be some issues with defrag programs but I believe that they are rare. The Raxco website does indeed have information in the FirstDefense FAQs and Knowledgebase about FD and defraggers. Good luck.

Acadia

 

Acadia thank you for the info. Can any one clarify the problems they encountered with RollbackRx? Was it the fact that the images were unstable?
Thanks for any info you can give me.
Rondijack

 

This is the problem I had with Rollback Rx, see post 329:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=127866&page=14
In short: One line of my snapshots got corrupted somehow in Rollback Rx all of a sudden. It could be something in my system or it could be some bug in Rollback that appears under special circumstances. I dont know wich, but for now I am sticking to Firstdefence until a new version of Rollback Rx arrives or when I do a reformat and a clean install of Windows XP, coz I really like Rollback Rx, it´s lightning fast taking the snapshots.

 

Which I experienced as well (see post 333 of same thread)! I uninstalled RBx and will not use it until they (HDS) find and fix the problem.

 

Thank you sukarof for your prompt and very useful reply.
Rondijack

 

Now I have tested the following:

Backontrack
Deepfreeze
Drive vaccine
Goback
Raxco first defense
Restoreit
Rollback rx
Shadowuser
Super win winrescue xp
Vcom recovery commander (Fix it utilities)
Win rollback

(Demo/trial-versions of the programs can be found on the manufacturers' websites.)

I was looking for software that would fulfil three tasks:

1) Delete unwanted changes in Windows XP and remove unwanted installations of malware upon restart.

2) Could exempt specified maps and functions from routines, so that chosen new files would remain and also things such as new virus definitions, in other words, not delete wanted changes.

3) Could be used to reboot at system crashes.

The first task was tested by installing the free version of Kazaa, which comes bundled with a number of intrusive adware/spyware applications and as well make several additions to the start up registry. Then I inspected the computer file system to see whether Kazaa (and the adware/spyware components) was completely gone at restart. I also made a scan with Ad-aware to be sure.

The second task was tested by inspecting the functions in the software, to see whether it could be configured to exempt chosen maps from the overall restore function.

The last task was not tested this time. Did not dare and have time to simulate system crashes at the moment. Maybe I will do this later when I find a computer that could be crashed risk-free. Feel free anyone to do complete this part of the testing and report the results under this thread.

Take the test for what it is. It is not scientific. I stopped evaluating some of the programs because of specified reasons.

Results:

BackOnTrack Home
Doesn't remove Kazaa upon restart. Can be configured. Difficult to uninstall.

Deep Freeze
Removes Kazaa automatically upon restart. Saves absolutely no files. Cannot be configured.

Drive Vaccine
Removes Kazaa automatically upon restart. Saves absolutely no files. Cannot be configured. Difficult to uninstall.

GoBack
Could removes Kazaa upon restart is so is chosen. Long time to install. Feels slow.

FirstDefense
Doesn't remove Kazaa upon restart. Slow to make copies/snapshots.

RestoreIT
Removes Kazaa automatically upon restart. Unclear whether it could be configured to make desired exemptions.

RollBack Rx
Removes Kazaa automatically upon restart. Chosen maps can be exempted from routines. Unclear whether it can be accessed at boot.

Shadow User
Removes Kazaa automatically upon restart. Chosen maps can be exempted from routines.

Win Rescue
Creates boot diskettes and restore points, which could be used at system crashes. That's the functions I could see that the program offers. Did not try to install and uninstall Kazaa.

VCOM Recovery Commander
Demands that a reboot CD be created in order to evaluate the program. Did not care to do it. Uninstalled it.

WinRollBack
Difficult to really try the program, because it displays a demo screen intensively for 20 seconds per time. Did not care to wait. Uninstalled it.

Your comments and own experiences are of course more than welcome.

//Carlo

 

Are you sure about FDISR. Did you do it right?
This is not supposed to happen in FDISR. Unfortunately, I never used it in practice.

 

I'm abit puzzled by this. If you're going to test software like installing Kazaa, and then seeing if you can remove it completely from your system, it will work if done the right way.

My guess is you'd make a snapshot of the system before Kazaa is installed, call it Kazaa. You then boot into that snapshot. Install Kazaa, play around with it then boot back into previous snapshot - hurrah, Kazaa is gone! You can then either update the Kazaa snapshot with the one you're in or remove it completely. Either way, Kazaa is gone.

As for speed of copying/making snapshots, creating a brand new snapshot will take longer than updating an existing snapshot. Updating a snapshot takes anywhere from 2-6 minutes on my system.

Peter/Acadia, please correct me if I'm wrong in this.