XPost: alt.comp.freeware   
   From: V@nguard.LH   
      
   VanguardLH  wrote:   
      
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >> VanguardLH  wrote:   
   >>   
   >>> Toolwiz Time Freeze (TTF) was abandoned back in Jan 2011I remember   
   >>> testing TTF for a few months, but decided it was not reliable.   
   >>   
   >> Not reliable?  I've used it and only it for protection for years and   
   >> it never failed me.   
      
   Ah, I remember one of the deficiecies of virtual disks to where all   
   writes are stored when active: a reboot discards the virtual disk, and   
   all changes on it.  While that sounds like a great means of protection,   
   it sucks for programs that require a reboot to complete their   
   installation.  Yes, you could not have the VD active, so I/O writes go   
   to the real disk, but then you're not protected during an installation,   
   and then you have to do the remnant cleanup of the file system and   
   registry after uninstallation instead of just rebooting to discard all   
   those changes.   
      
   Lots of programs still require a reboot to complete their installation.   
   It has been too many years since I trialed Toolwiz Time Freeze to recall   
   if it had an option to write all changes from its VD to the real disk on   
   a reboot.  However, that still won't let you test new software installs   
   where a reboot is required.  You do the install, and want to safely test   
   the new software, but the new software requires a reboot to finish its   
   installation, but a reboot wipes all changes to the VD (it simply   
   doesn't exist anymore on the reboot), so what you wanted to install to   
   test is gone, and you can't test it.  If there was an option to write   
   the VD to the real disk before shutdown and reboot, you lose the   
   protection since a malicious or rude program is not permanently   
   installed (until you uninstall or do manual eradication).   
      
   In addition, many video games incorporate copyright protections, and   
   some won't install nor run when they detect a VD is receiving all disk   
   writes.  Yeah, doesn't matter that it has not happened for you, but then   
   the point is that the VD-discard-on-boot scheme has its defects whether   
   you specifically encountered them, or not.   
      
   Windows, by default, has a scheduled event to run its own defrag tool,   
   plus it does an optimize on boot when Windows loads.  Plenty of other   
   users employ other defragmenters; however, many of those 3rd-party   
   defrag users don't realize the layouts conflict with that of Microsoft's   
   defrag, and to prevent the battling over layout (which generates a lot   
   of disk writes to undo the layout of the other defrag tool) should be   
   disabling the scheduled event, and null the boot-time registry entry.   
   Folks may run a defrag while the VD is active, but all those sector   
   moves get discarded on a reboot when the VD has been discarded, and the   
   user is back to writing to the real disk.  When using a VD scheme, best   
   to disable the scheduler service.  I don't recall Toolwiz Time Freeze   
   would intercept calls to defraggers, or other tools that should not be   
   ran while the VD is active.   
      
   Users of Toolwiz Time Freeze have also reported that after a reboot that   
   there are problems starting or using several programs, like web   
   browsers, ctrl+alt+del doesn't work anymore, revo uninstaller, restore   
   points refusing to load, or saying an app needs some program to run.  If   
   they saved an image backup before activing the VD protection, and on a   
   reboot that leaves them with a corrupted setup, they can restore from   
   the image backup to the exact state before VD was activated.   
      
   You activate Toolwiz Time Freeze, and during that VD session you create   
   or modify some document files.  They are in the same partition as the OS   
   and applications.  When you reboot, all those doc changes are lost.   
      
   Unlikely that anyone runs their computer without any security software.   
   Not using any, and despite using Timewiz, means any infection is active   
   and can perform its malicious activities, like making your computer into   
   a zombie to participate if DDOS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks   
   against web site.  Yeah, you don't care how your computer is misused,   
   because you can reboot to eliminate the malware, but it could've been   
   active while Timewiz was active.  Also, if you have documents on other   
   volumes (other partitions on other disks), Timewiz won't ban changes to   
   them.  Ransomware and other malware doesn't look only on the OS   
   partition for what to attack.  Nothing can happen to the OS partition   
   that can't be undone after a reboot (when the VD is discarded, and   
   you're back to the real disk), but that doesn't protect other partitions   
   on the same or different drives from getting their files renamed, moved,   
   modified, deleted, or encrypted.  Which is more important to you: not   
   having to redo an OS installation, or keeping malware from your docs?   
   You can do a fresh install of the OS for recovery.  Where do you backup   
   your doc files that cannot be reached by your computer (i.e., do you   
   have offline backups) by malware active during a VD session?   
      
   The only thing I can say positive about Timewiz Time Freeze is that it   
   is better than Windows' System restore.  TTF returns to the original   
   disk after a reboot, so ALL changes made (only to the OS partition) are   
   undone.  System Restore only restores system files, nothing else.   
   However, with System Restore, you can walk backward through snapshots.   
   I don't recall TTF has any snapshots to let you walk back through a   
   history of write states of its VD.   
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)