A short commercial response :-|
Amongst our ICT deployment solutions for Public Libraries is a software
product called Deepfreeze.
This provides exactly the protection George is referring to. ( a user could
even format the C: drive and it will return on reboot!)
At £26 per PC for 5 and £12 per PC for 50 it represents excellent value for
money and does not require any hardware.
Deepfreeze is available now for W95/98 clients and will be available for
NT/W2000 clients mid year.
Best Regards
Geoff Baldwin
Business Development Manager
Fenwood Systems
Information, Resource and Knowledge Management
CDROM Networking e-journal access control
Library Automation Knowledge Management
Document and Records Management
Printer and Network Resource Management
2 Kingston's Estate, Eastern Road, Aldershot , Hants, GU12 4YA
Tel: +44 1 252 350001 Fax: +44 1 252 314433
www.fenwood.co.uk
Fenwood Systems is a member of the Esprit Group of Companies
www.esprit-is.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Kerr, George [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 02 February 2001 11:43
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Public Access Computers
I have noticed some recent postings to this list about problems caused by
users messing about with PC and application configurations and also concerns
about the possibility of users intruducing viruses via own disc use or
opening e-mail attachments. This is not in any sense a commercial, but we
have encountered a package which I believe does provide answers to these
problems.
We use a product called PC Bodyguard which seems to provide the complete
answer to the problem.
Basically, you set up Windows and the various other applications which are
available, exactly as you want them - which toolbars appear, screen layout,
launch icons etc. This information is then saved to a card which is
physically slotted into the machine. Once the card is installed, you can
allow total access to Windows and can allow users to configure any settings
as they wish. Switching off and re-booting the PC brings back the original
settings from the card so it does not matter if a previous users has messed
up settings.
PC Bodyguard also handles the virus problem. It does not matter if a virus
is introduced from someone's own disc or from a file download from the
internet. Any virus introduced to the PC, and existing files affected, are
automatically removed after a shutdown and re-boot which again brings back
the previously saved file structure. Of course it would be possible to
introduce a virus and then transmit it on to another person via e-mail if
this all takes place in the same session - but it is not a problem for your
own PC's.
We now have it on all of our public terminals and it does appear at present,
to be the complete answer. We asked our IT people to try to override its
provisions and they failed to do so.
It costs c £50 per machine and if you think about the staff time involved in
bringing 'messed up' PC's back into usable configuration after the state
some users leave them in, then I believe it is cheap at half the price.
Available from Calluna Technology Ltd., 1 Blackwood Road, Eastfield,
GLENROTHES, KY7 4NP. Tel 01592 631245
George Kerr
Support Services Manager
West Lothian Libraries
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