Is Deep Freeze the solution?

madthomas

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I am going to assemble a new PC for my cousin.
She is not that in to computers and would go with surfing net, outlook, and simple office stuff.

Her previous PC was always slowed badly because of frequent use of USB which had viruses in them.

So this time I considered to install OS and all important Softwares and then to install Deep Freeze.

She would just have to restrain herself from saving anything on her C drive.
This software is used by my college library.

But main problem will be, Bookmarks wont be saved.
She wont be able to change her desktop wallpapers and save stuff on desktop.

She wont be able to save anything in My Documents.
Also all software settings would be reverted back on reboot.

Should I install it or not?
 

phil_livesey

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The best way to do things like this is to show novices what to do and what not to do. Firstly, get a good anti virus, doesn't matter if it is free or what, MSE is free and very good.

Secondly, common sense is key, don't open emails from recipients that claim to be barclays for instance, but have a really long and stupid email address. Don't go o untrusted websites and when setting up anti virus, make sure it scans added usb devices.

Using software like deep freeze will only prevent people doing things, not actually solving the problem.
 

groundrat

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Another thing I would do is create a USER account for her. Change the admin account to something besides Administrator and put a good password (16 charecters, alpha numeric with special charecters caps and lowercase.)

As a user she will not be exposed to many of the problems she had before. That, with a good antivirus (Avast!, AVG, MSE), she might not need the deepfreeze.
 

madthomas

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wiggbot: That's a tough call. Did she not use any virus prevention programs?

phil_livesey: Firstly, get a good anti virus, doesn't matter if it is free or what, MSE is free and very good.

Previously I had installed AVG antivirus, I don't know how viruses could bypass it.

The worst of them was the "New_Folder.exe" which kept on creating folders within folders, and created a heavy lag on internet.
The main problem is viruses come from USB of her friends who don't care about their own security and put other computer in a mess too.

Groundrat: Another thing I would do is create a USER account for her. Change the admin account to something besides Administrator and put a good password (16 charecters, alpha numeric with special characters caps and lowercase.)

Is it difficult for viruses to come from NON-ADMIN accounts?

Also I am considering that I would install MSE for Antivirus protection.

 
I'm hesitant to use free AV programs with non-astute users as they require manual updating .... and novices don't keep them up to date. You can buy complete Internet Security Suites for about $39 that cover 3 PC's. Buy one for yaself, and then give her 1 of the licenses. Ya won't have to look at her machine until it's tome to renew the license.
 

arson94

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I like MSE very much. But Deep Freeze isn't the solution.

Deep Freeze does allow you to set thawed space, which is space that isn't protected by Deep Freeze so that changes and modifications aren't deleted upon reboot. But it also doesn't prevent anything. It merely reverts changes back to their original states upon a reboot. Her computer can and will be constantly reinfected if she indeed has bad habits, ignorant of basic knowledge to avoid such situations or always exposed to infections.

There's also Windows and software updates that would require the computer to be thawed to install. Deep Freeze is better used as a way to make software and OS configurations static and easily reverted when people try to break configurations that work, such as in a school lab environment where one computer is exposed to hundreds of users in a short period of time.

She would better benefit from being taught the simple steps and knowledge it takes to avoid most situations so that she can brea the bad habits she doesn't know she has. Also, if drastic enough, I think not making her an admin on the computer as Groundrat suggested is a better solution than Deep Freeze.

This is all personal opinion based on managing Deep Freeze a few years ago in a educational environment (as in classrooms and labs).
 

groundrat

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Yes. When you surf as an Admin, unless you have reconfigured your security settings, webpages inherit your machine permissions and can download anything directly to the hard disk. As to AVG, if she downloaded a trojan or rootkit thinking it was legitimate software, no anti-virus would have protected from that.