Anyone who isn't already solely depending on the great Shadow Defender for outstanding virtualization, would this DF current version still be viable alternative. In years past I once had it and used if for a time but for some odd reason it became a hassle for me at a time when it's competitor Shadow Defender showed much more promise. Since then SD is been solid as a granite rock. Is Deep Freeze still mainly attractive to the commercial industry of Institutions like a Library, School, etc. only? Or is it far enough along now that it can offer additional snapshot features with minimal user interaction.
I've also used in the past and liked it, but Shadow Defender always had this tremendous advantage to enter shadow mode on the fly within seconds whereas Deep Freeze needed a reboot. I don't know whether the program is offering extra features nowadays. If SD disappeared or became incompatible with Win 10, I would certainly reconsider it as a viable replacement. They used to charge for major upgrades...
Exactly! IIRC when I did own my copy and used it to test file infector viruses and various malware it was rock solid. The Only only only issue I ran into was when I tried to uninstall it. At the time I had a MBR not EFI and somehow DEEP FREEZE locked in tight via a Upper Driver Filter in the Registry that was also synchronized or tied in to various other DF files that made it nearly Impossible for me to cleanly uninstall and usually fudged my MBR requiring an image to restore the system. Im sure by now that part is no longer of any concern.
I don't know about Deep Freeze currently and it's state of development but in the past it was 'rock solid' in terms of just going back clean after re-boot. The problem with it was. It only did that. it's the sort of software that you find in school or university labs where the students wreck the computer configurations each day, sometimes on purpose but mostly through lack of knowledge. At the end of the day the system admin can re-boot the whole lot for a fresh new day. I think that it was mainly meant for that sort of usage. People ran into problems when they needed to uninstall it, as, (if I remember correctly) it needed you to retain and be able to access the original setup file and use certain keyboard combinations before you could uninstall it and that wasn't apparent when you first installed it.. I find that even these days that the website is not easy to navigate to get to basic information...there is a lot of 'spin' involved. I I think that that these days Deep Freeze might be rentware. originally you could buy, keep and own the software for your pc/s but then they changed policy to make it rentware. They want some sort of yearly (or after a period of time) re-injection of funds from you. It used to be to (some extent) good at what it did but was sort of user unfriendly and seemed to be meant for and aimed toward business usage and mindset. The website says headline things like 'Patented Reboot to Restore Technology Makes PCs Indestructible' which I think is going a bit too far. Also 'TURN YOUR IT STAFF INTO SUPERHEROES' which makes me cringe a bit and be embarrassed on behalf of the person that thought of that sort of tactic. I remember when Shadow Defender was in it's infancy that it used to say on the website, "Shadow Defender 'The way to a safe world'." I asked Tony to change it to 'The way to a safer world' and it has remained that way ever since which I am quite proud of.
Hi Patrick ^^^ All of the above. The assessment is exactly what I experienced in times before Shadow Defender made its sparkling debut for us. As mentioned its about as rock solid as they can get in FREEZE MODE. You could throw everything AND the kitchen sink at it and a reboot swept it away as easy as baby powder. It's likely to remain as described since it's as you say found to be a benefit for school-library public computer systems where dingbat users trash as much as they can latch their sticky fingers on with them
Faronics Deep Freeze is as solid as ever. Great software. Better yet, let’s look at the company vs Shadow Defender. Faronics has a headquarters you can walk into M-F 9-5 in downtown Vancouver. You can find over 100 Faronics employees on LinkedIn. Faronics employs around 150-175 people in Vancouver or one of its six regional offices around the world. According to Dun & Bradsheet they have revenues close to $18M a year. https://www.dnb.com/business-direct...oration.ceb743e7b114fe731f0aea954102ed96.html Everyone at Faronics has a real name - you can call and talk to them. Shadow Defender? This company appears to be one person. It could be a guy named Tony in China. He communicates with only one person — apparently — SDMod here in this very thread. You can read my thoughts on the problems with Shadow Defender, and the many questions which I believe creates a risk of use here: https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...r-support-thread.293075/page-228#post-2821365 I also chime in on a couple of posters questions over the next few posts after the one above. Stark difference between Faronics and “Tony”. This is all for civil discussion and good security practices in 2021.
Yes I agree Deep Freeze is solid, but so is Shadow Defender. The big difference between the two names is SD gives you a life license, DF doesn't, DF is more expensive, DF requires a reboot to enter a protected mode, SD requires a few clicks and a few seconds to do the same operation. I personally couldn't care less if a company is run by hundreds or by a few employees, and it is well known that in China information is more secretive for political reasons... Oh by the way I used to have two licenses for Faronics DF in the past and one for Faronics Anti-executable which have expired ever since. I do have two licenses for SD which are still valid for Windows 10...
I wonder if Faronics ever added track 0 virtualization support to Deep Freeze. Deep Freeze was being bypassed by boot sector viruses because Deep Freeze did not support track 0 virtualization. Track 0 is the first track on the disk and it contains the boot configuration, such as the MBR or GPT. The same samples that bypassed Deep Freeze were unable to bypass Shadow Defender because Shadow Defender already supported track 0 virtualization. I don't remember who it was that conducted the test, it may have been Cruel Sister.
My point about the difference in the company behind each software speaks to a larger question. No, in and of itself, the size of the company doesn’t matter. However, when you have one company that is open and available and the other is “someone from China,” and when there are questions sdmod has to send emails and plea for help and hope he answers within a few months...it literally begs questions about the unknown developer and in my view, about his software. To me, that’s just blatantly obvious. When I raised this before someone said I was “paranoid” and another said they were not going to not trust someone based on, “doubts and speculations.” My answer then would apply today — Paul Wilders began this forum offering security and privacy discussions because we must question, we should trust but verify. I guess it’s as simple as this forum would not be necessary if we didn’t all (rightly) have “doubts and speculations” about what software does, what it can do, and — how do we protect ourselves from malicious, questionable software or companies. This is especially true when you give them so much power over what’s happening in Shadow Mode, coming out of Shadow Mode and it’s all logged nowhere and operates at a level few others do. I ask these questions because it would be negligent not to. To me, the fact that the software “does what it’s supposed to” is simply not good enough when SD is given so many passes even though there is suspicious behavior by the developer. Red flag. We live in the 21st century and there’s no reason for all the “everything goes through sdmod” when someone out there could clear this all up. The fact that they do not only raises questions about whether there is even a Tony at all — and who is sdmod? Someone clearly runs this business - accepts the deposits from the processor, maintains their website, runs promotions with various giveaway/deal sites, on and on. The difference in companies is much more than their size, it’s about accountability, honesty, transparency, and trust. Do they earn it? Or do we overlook these mysteries, suspicions, and give them trust only because the software “works”?
I've been using SD since its debut in 2007 and never ever had suspicious behaviour to deal with. SDmod is an enthusiast member who is trying to help people who are new to SD, he is doing a terrific job, something to be commended about, not slandered by your comments... Which brings me to ask you, who are you but an obvious troll?
An obvious troll? Seriously? I’ve been a member of Wilders since 2004(!) - you joined a year later and you and I had some great conversations back in the day. I certainly didn’t mean that as slanderous - just trying to put two and two together, which we shouldn’t have to do, because it’s all such a mystery. (Which was my point to begin with.) As for Deep Freeze, I have been a user before SD was even around. In fact, I started one of the earliest threads about light virtualization on this forum. Good security practices demand these kinds of conversations sometimes. I get that you are a big enthusiast, but that doesn’t make the mysterious comings and goings with SD and Tony any less mysterious and disturbing. You’ve got to admit it’s been a strange ride - if nothing else.
I have to agree with you. I’m also using SD since 2007 but always find it very strange the « disappearing » story of Tony. Anyway SD has been very solid so far and I will keep using it as long as it stays like that
A strange ride? Since 2007? You've got to be kidding, 14 years of reliable results and you still dare to doubt their intentions?. Anyway stick to Deep Freeze if that makes you happy...
I've used Deep Freeze in the past as it was rock stable and did what it claimed to do (it is a fantastic program) but I couldn't and wouldn't recommend it to every day computer users. Why? They'd blindly install it and come across issues of their downloads, photos, music etc vanishing, the looping of software updating (web browser, Windows updates etc) and system changes (fonts, wallpaper, layout etc) not being remembered. How do I know? My sister tried Deep Freeze and I got "that" phone call about all of the above and it was more easy to remove it than explain about thawed and frozen state as you know she'd still do something that would be lost on a reboot. Such software is amazing in a business environment or home users with some computer software knowledge but everyday computer users who do a bit of web browsing, emailing, downloading files etc? Nope.
I can see a plus and minus for both. If you're someone like me, who is addicted to the Internet, but also has work that needs doing each day, Deep Freeze is a positive. If I can make myself turn off the Internet, I can get my typing done in 2 or 3 hours, then engage DF and surf, chat, test, without fear of malware. Shadow Defender, which I have, gives the option to exclude files, so I end up staying online and trying to do my work while hopefully resisting the temptation to go out into the wilds of the Internet. Usually, being undisciplined and weak willed, I succumb to the temptation and nothing that needs to be done is done. Too many times I've turned on the laptop at 9AM, opened my word processor and, within minutes am surfing in Brave browser. Later in the evening, I realize I've lost the day and should get to work, except most of the people I chat with are out evenings. So, for Internet addicts like me, having Deep Freeze could work in a positive way, IF we can make ourselves shut off internet access for just a couple of hours a day.
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/thr...r-support-thread.293075/page-230#post-2831152 *for those who don't get it, "tony stark" is the alter ego of marvel character "ironman".
Thats tough bro, I would go nuts if I had to stare at a computer screen all day, especially if the weather was nice and I could be outside.
Is it still so that when you want to freeze you have to reboot in to that state, not just just "commit" in real time like SD?
Why did you stop? Thanks for all the info by the way. I just got a download link for Standard edition so now i am off to play with that one over the weekend.
