Deep Freeze (software)
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| Deep Freeze | |
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 Faronics Deep Freeze on a Windows XP Computer. Showing the Configuration Administrator which controls Configuration, One Time Passwords, and Creating programs. |
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| Latest release: | 6.20.20.1692 / January 12, 2007 |
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| OS: | Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X |
| Use: | Security |
| License: | Proprietary |
| Website: | www.faronics.com |
Deep Freeze is a "reboot to restore" piece of computer software created by the Faronics software company from North America.
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[edit] Operating Systems
Deep Freeze is compatible with many of the versions of Microsoft's Windows Operating Systems - including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000 and Windows XP, Windows Vista and also for newer versions of the Mac OS X operating system. A version supporting the SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop Linux operating system is under development and planned for early 2007[1].
[edit] Usage
Deep Freeze is primarily targeted to four main markets:
- Education - including Schools, Universities, and other educational providers
- Government
- Library - including public and private libraries, as well as other short-term public-access networks
- Healthcare - for Hospitals, Nursing centres and other areas vulnerable to attacks from malicious software.
Deep Freeze is also used in some Internet cafes to reduce the permanent effect users can have on shared computers.
[edit] Features
Deep Freeze works by freezing a hard drive in the state that it is in when it is installed. If changes (good or bad) are made to settings on a frozen computer, they are lost, along with all files (Windows Updates Included) not in the Thawspace when the computer restarts.
When a computer is "Thawed," any changes made are retained, unless manually undone. Administrators can also create a "ThawSpace" of up to 1 TB which is a partition where data can be saved across restarts, even when the computer is Frozen.
Other features of Deep Freeze include:
- One-time passwords (OTPs)
- "Thawed Drives"
- Stealth mode
- Scheduled Restart/Shutdown times with support for virus/Windows updates in Maintenance mode [2]
- Encrypted Password protection
- System clock or time updates (but only from inside the frozen operating system)
- Protected CMOS (but only from inside the frozen operating system)
[edit] Viruses
Viruses, Spyware and Adware are all treated the same way as any other system or registry change and are eliminated with a reboot.
