Deep Freeze Professional by Faronics

Our school board recently purchased security software that has saved countless hours of frustration and maintenance time in our labs. At the beginning of the year, the appropriate software and setup was installed on all of our computers. Then security software called Deep Freeze was installed and enabled. When you enable Deep Freeze it “freezes” the computer in that state. You can then use the computer as you would normally but every time the computer is turned off it is returned to the original state. If at a later date you decide you want to make a permanent change you can temporarily disable Deep Freeze.

What makes this security software special is that it doesn’t impede the use of the computers in anyway. You could even teach students how to change settings, delete things, and install software, with confidence that everything will be returned to normal when the computers reboot. This is also why it is important to ensure that all users realize that when they save something, it is only temporary. It will be lost when the computers are turned off which can be set to happen automatically at a scheduled time each day. This software assumes that people will save their personal documents on a network server, floppy disks or on a “thawed” section of the hard disk that has been designated in Deep Freeze. If you use software that records students results you may also need to place this software on a server or in the “thawed” section of the hard disk. Obviously, this software may not be appropriate for administrative or individual computers that are updated frequently, but it is an excellent security option for high traffic computers in a lab setting.

Norton SystemWorks by Symantec

Norton SystemWorks 2001 puts together a collection of popular software utilities that help you optimize, maintain and repair your computer. The package includes Norton AntiVirus, to protect against viruses, Norton Utilities, to optimize system performance and Norton CleanSweep, to remove unnecessary Internet files. The professional version of SystemWorks also comes with Ghost to assist with backing up or “imaging” the contents of a hard disk and WinFax for faxing. The one utility lacking in this collection of software is Internet firewall software to protect against hackers.

For more information about Norton SystemWorks 2001 Professional and its closest competitor, Network Associates' McAfee Office 3.11, you can read a review by CNET at http://www.cnet.com/software/0-806176-8-3411906-1.html.