Can I have a computer boot from a protected, read-only partition everytime? (1 Viewer)

I'm thinking of setting up a computer for my kids, since they are always screwing up mine :frowning:.

One thing I'd like to do is have a "clean", working install, and everytime the system boots, it reverts to this clean state. I would have a seperate partition for keeping documents and stuff, or save it to another computer on the network. But this way, I won't have to worry about viruses or spyware, or any corruption whatsoever.

I have an extra license for Windows 98, 2000, or could use Fedora, so I have plenty of options. I have a friend who says his college has computers set up this way, so when the students screw them up, they just reboot and everthing is fine. But he didn't know how they did it.

Any recommendations?

Most likely Juzt-Reboot. It's a PCI card that implements that functionality; you can use the PC just like any other PC, do whatever you want - even reformat, I think - and then when you reboot, nothing has taken effect. I think the card stores the changes in a "scratch partition" and discards all changes on reboot.

http://www.juzt-reboot.com/

Definitely something I'd implement in school computer labs etc; pretty foolproof antivirus solution too; get a virus? No problem, reboot.

Smart idea. Not sure how much the card costs though.

Sounds like you need the program I use in the loan pool. It's called deepfreeze. It restores the computer back to the exact condition it was set to initially with just a reboot.

http://www.faronics.com/html/deepfreeze.asp

". . .Deep Freeze instantly protects and preserves original computer configurations. Completely invulnerable to hacking, Deep Freeze makes computing environments easier to manage and maintain. Each restart eradicates all changes and resets the computer to its original state, right down to the last byte."

sounds too good too be true.

Why not just set up XP or 2000 accounts for each of them with limited rights? Turn off access to control panel and don't allow them to install software. Anything that needs to be added, you log in as an administrator and install it, making the new program available to all users.

Regards,

Joe