We've been using DF for about 10 years as well. Would not do without it. But as stated elsewhere, it does not provide realtime protection from viruses, malware, what have you, which can do their destruction on your network before you reboot to wipe it out.
Other protection is a must. DF is only to retore a PC to it's previous state, devoid of changes made by previous users.
Works well with updates as we schedule MS updates, AV updates, and even scans, etc. during thaw times.
For users docs, we've created a thaw space (call Save Here), and redirected My Documents to it for a default save location, and a shortcut to it on the desktop, and configured all apps to save there by default as well. We've denied users ability to save anywhere else, using GP or local NTFS permissions (i.e. deny write to desktop). I run a script every few days to empty the thawspace of saved files. This works very well for us.
DF admin is great. Makes working with large amount of PCs easy. Worth the upgrade cost.
Simon Heres
Biola University Library
La Mirada, CA
I have to agree here. It is not a substitute by any stretch of the
imagination. Whatever manages to get infected can sit there and fester
for hours before a reboot. Not my idea of a good time. ;-) Anti-virus is
a must. Having this type of software in place has been a life saver for
us. The 2 working together allows us to open the computers to act a
little more like a "home" computer but yet, we can protect ourselves.
So those of you on deep freeze - it seems like it's a pretty solid
product. What issues (if any) have you come across with patrons saving
documents, pictures, etc temporarily on the desktop / my documents / etc
while they are working on them?
We are currently experiencing an issue where the patron does just that
and for an unknown reason, the system then kicks back stating that the
file cannot be found. Yet, you can see it plain as day where ever they
have saved it. Reboot the machine, all is well again but the customer
has lost all their work. This is a new problem that has cropped up in
the current version but there has not yet been a solution that has
worked from the vendor. We're going on at least 8 months of this and
customers are getting more and more vocal about this... Yes, you can
tell them tough cookies, but that isn't exactly customer friendly nor
does it help the poor guy who spent an hour on their resume only to lose
it all. We've been in contact with 2 other sites with the same issue (a
local high school and another library somewhere - I forget where.)
Anyone run into any AD GPO policies that makes things difficult? :)
Thanks for the stories so far! :-D I think we're going to set up a test
box or two. ;-) If you have more, I am certainly willing to listen! ;)
Thanks,
Gretchen Garcia
MCLD IT Services
-----Original Message-----
PAUL
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 10:19 AM
Subject: Re: Deep Freeze and anti-virus software
Short answer -- YES you need both - especially if it is on a network.
Deep Freeze does a WONDERFUL job of cleaning up any changes -
intentional or unintentional made on a machine.
Love it -- would not want to have to to my job without it.
BUT -
Deep Freeze does NOT BLOCK anything from coming into your computer.
Unless you reboot your system several times a day -
Virsuses, Malware, can still invade your system - compromise information
- spread itself to the patron's jump drive etc before you ever have a
reason to reboot.
To me - Deep Freeze is a supplement to -- not a substitute for standard
safety practices.
Opinions stated are my own etc etc etc
Paul H Gray
TCC NE Library
Hurst, Tx
________________________________
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 12:09 PM
Subject: [LIBNT-L] Deep Freeze and anti-virus software
Can I expand Gretchen's question and ask if anyone is using Deep Freeze
as the only solution in protecting their machines, or if you find the
need to continue with a virus protection software as well. Thanks.
Steven Hartung
Pamunkey Regional Library
804.537.6214 office
804.537.6389 fax
MacKenzie
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 12:58 PM
Subject: Re: [LIBNT-L] Deep Freeze
We have used Deepfreeze at our library for over 10 years and have had no
problems with it. Currently we are using deepfreeze version 6 which
allows you to do administration from one computer to all your public
computers.
We use it on over 100 computers. Deepfreeze works on Vista and windows 7
as well as XP
I wouldn't recommend steady state as it is only for XP and vista.
Microsoft won't be continuing its use on Windows 7. We tried on
different computers and had a lot of problems with it. It may be free
but not worth the aggravation for the problems it caused. What steady
state is - is a really locked down guest account so you will run into
limitations with it and problems using some of the operating system
whereas deepfreeze doesn't do that. Faronics offers discounts for
libraries for volume licensing. We use PC Reservation and their print
management system and it doesn't affect it at all. Deepfreeze also works
on 64 bit systems You can download an evaluation from
Sylvia MacKenzie
Colchseter East Hants Public Library
Truro NS Canada
Vermeersch, Scott M.
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 1:25 PM
Subject: Re: [LIBNT-L] Deep Freeze
You may also want to look at Microsoft SteadyState. Similar to
Deepfreeze but free.
Scott Vermeersch
Systems Analyst
Mayo Clinic Libraries
__________________________
Mayo Clinic
200 First Street SW
Rochester, MN 55905
________________________________
Channing
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 11:07 AM
Subject: Re: [LIBNT-L] Deep Freeze
We use deep freeze with library online and trend micro. It works fine in
that setup. If any problems or virus warnings come up staff can just
restart the machine and it'll be like nothing has happened.
The only real issue is scheduling updates to be done as the machines are
frozen. This includes windows updates or any software installed
including trend. There is a scheduler to setup update times. It is a
good product. They will to unifying their management console eventually
so I'm told so you can admin all their software from one panel.
On Apr 5, 2010, at 9:00 AM, "Gretchen Garcia - LIBRARY"
Good morning LibNT! ;-) I am curious about your stories (good and bad)
about using Deep Freeze in your environment. Especially if you have your
public machines on a domain and use any sort of PC access management
system (We are using SAM.) We are currently running XP and using Trend
Micro as our Anti-virus.
We seem to be running into walls using our current solution and we're
not getting the response we would like from the vendor.
Any and all stories (again, good, bad and ugly) would be appreciated.
;-) Thanks much!
Thanks,
Gretchen Garcia
MCLD IT Services
"There are 10 types of people in this world. Those who understand binary
and those who don't." =)