Opinion On Windows SteadyState and Other Roll Back Tools

[Monroe]

I started this discussion here strictly for XP users no longer having support and besides having an image backup on hand, maybe a "roll back" type of program would be of some use.

There seems to be several free and many paid programs available but one I came across today is Windows SteadyState that is no longer available from MS.

"SteadyState was available until December 31, 2010 from Microsoft for 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Windows Vista. It is incompatible with Windows 7 and later."

I am not familiar with it ... the ones I know about are Shadow Defender, DeepFreeze, RollBack Rx, Macrium Reflect Free ... I think there are a few more that I have read about but they don't come to mind now.

Getting back to Windows SteadyState ... I found a download site and will try it out in a day or two. Anyone have pros - cons on this program and could it be of benefit to XP users ... I would think so, since it is free and can help if a machine gets messed up ... probably not 100% like actually having a good, clean image backup at hand ... but with an image backup, a person could use this program (or one like it) to test software and such. I think this program might be better than System Restore, seems more flexible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_SteadyState

Features:

SteadyState can revert a computer to a previously stored state every time it reboots, or on administrator's request. When Windows Disk Protection (WDP) component of SteadyState is turned on, changes to the hard disk are redirected to a temporary cache. WDP offers three modes of protection:

* Discard mode: The cache is cleared upon every reboot, thus returning the system to its previous state.

* Persist mode: Changes saved in the cache remain intact across reboots. An administrator may later opt to commit these changes. Alternatively, at the specified date and time, the cache expires and its contents are cleared.

* Commit mode: Contents of the cache is written out to disk and become permanent. In addition, new changes to the system are no longer redirected to the cache.

... download site

Windows SteadyState

http://download.cnet.com/Windows-SteadyState/3000-18512_4-10977409.html

Publisher's Description From Microsoft:

Whether you manage computers in a school computer lab or an Internet café, a library, or even in your home, this software helps make it easy for you to keep your computers running the way you want them to, no matter who uses them. Windows SteadyState runs on genuine copies of Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Home Premium, and Windows Vista Starter. And, Windows SteadyState is offered free of charge to Windows Genuine Advantage customers.

...

Edited April 19, 2014 by monroe

[tommyp]

I found an old version of steady state. It was a traditional half hearted attempt at making something decent. Rebootrestore is one of those freebee programs too, but unlike MSFT's steady state, I found it work very very well. I've tested it out on a few test boxes to see how it works. I was quite surprised how well the free version works. My standard PC setup is a partitioned drive with the "my documents", "cookies" and "favorites" folders located on a different partition. So whenever I reload an OS, I won't lose data. With reboot restore, I was able to select to write protect the C drive while letting me write to the D drive where my data files were. So all in all, nothing of importance was lost after a reboot. If there was a remote event where I had to change somethign on the OS, a right click on the systray icon let me allow the system changes to C. I didn't see a need to run virus scanners or other bloatware because the OS could not be contaminated. The only thing I saw was that there was an additional spash screen when the PC booted (not a big deal). I would entertain using reboot restore if I really had to stick with XP.

[Monroe]

Thanks for mentioning "Rebootrestore" ... I missed that one, it's from the company that makes RollBack Rx and is a freeware utility. I just explore this idea also as a way to go with XP ... after making an image backup to have if all else fails, including the hard drive, then having a program like Reboot Restore Rx or something similar allows a person to experiment with changes and software programs and easily return to a good working system very quickly, should something go wrong. I never really had much success with System Restore that comes with Windows XP, seems to be "hit and miss", maybe it works, maybe not ... a program like Reboot Restore Rx sounds like a much better alternative.

Reboot Restore Rx

http://www.horizondatasys.com/en/products_and_solutions.aspx?ProductId=18

Reboot Restore Rx is a Freeware utility that makes it easy to maintain PC’s in small public access

computing environments (classrooms, computer labs, kiosks, internet cafes, libraries, etc.). Every time you restart the PC’s - they will automatically reset to your desired baseline settings.

Advanced Technology designed for small public access computing environments.

It’s a challenge to maintain public access PC's - at hotels, internet cafes, and libraries - where users are not always careful and usage is high. Reboot Restore Rx simplifies the management of PC's in shared computing environments...

Reboot Restore Rx is a non-restrictive hard drive restore product designed for public access PC management. The PC users feel as though they have complete control over the PC. But regardless of what they do, including erasing files, installing software or even hacking the system registry, Reboot Restore Rx will automatically restore the PC to a predefined baseline -- every time the workstation is restarted, or turned on. Making the workstations perfectly configured and available for the next user.

* Restore on Reboot

* Reset to Baseline on PC Start Up or Hard Reset

* One-Click Instant Updates

* VMWare Support

* Protects the MBR

* Works below Windows

* Mini OS Access

* Restore from unbootable Windows

-----------------------------

I tried Steady State and wasn't crazy about it but you said ... "I found an old version of steady state". That might be interesting to also try ... sometimes older versions seem to work a little better than later versions. What version did you find compared to the last version 2.5 ? I didn't spend a lot of time working with SteadyState, so I might try it again in a few months but I will try Reboot Restore Rx ... their RollBack Rx program is very popular and probably worth the price.

Edited April 25, 2014 by monroe

[tommyp]

I don't remember which version of steady state I found. It was a year or two ago. I just remember that it just didn't work well, or work at all, or allow me to select a partition. Honestly I forgot. The free version of reboot restore worked as advertised and it did a great job at it too.

[HarryTri]

Macrium Reflect Free is very good too. It allows you to create an image of the Windows (and any other) partition online using VSS technology, it makes compressed and verifiable (with embedded hashes, no comparison to the imaged partitions) images and you can easily make with it a Linux/Windows PE rescue CD/USB stick to use in order to restore the Windows partition, if you have to, from the created images. The only problem is that in order to use the Linux rescue CD the image must be on another hard disk drive (whereas with the Windows PE rescue media it can be on another partition of the same HDD). You can also mount the created images and restore individual files/folders from them. I use it for some time and I am very satisfied.