Hey Experts Looking for some hardware that I don't rember the name of .

Hey Fulp,

              When broswing internet its a common thing that some webpages may request your persmission to install some programs. People has the tendency to click ok to anything and everything that is popped up and when you do that ... BANG ! All kindda pop ups and stuff like that would start happenening. One thing we can do is instruct them not to OK to all that unless they read the content of the request. " GATOR " is one example of adware t hat downloads advertisements from internte and displays it everytime you get on the internet.

So, if you are using Windows Xp, you can do a systems Restore
START > Programs > Accessories > Systemtools > System Restore.

Contents on your hardware would'nt be deleted. Only Installed programs maybe removed from the Registry hence maynot be accessible. However you the process of system is always reversible. That is you can undo the systems restore.

Also you can do this.
Start > Run > Type  msconfig > On the Startup tab remove all the ticks and restart. By doing so un-necessary programs would load the next time you boot your computer. Once the changes are applied you would be prompted to restart the computer. WHen the comp restarts you will be prompted that you have used msconfig, so leave a check so that this message is not popped everytime the system restarts.

Note : If you are using Norton Anti Virus leave the ccapp ticked from the list and let the rest unchecked.

Hope that helps.


Cheers
Sinu

Here is a Program that Sweeps all the spyware and adware

http://www.spysweeper.com/download.html

First of all, tell them to either stop browsing dodgy sites or to stop installing spyware on their machine.  That is not your responsibility if they muck the machine up when your not there now is it?  Think about that on.

If your going to do a full install for them and you want to be able to just do a full reinstall quickly then you can use Norton Ghost http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/.  With this software after you install everything that they need on their machine, including operatins system, drivers and software you can create an image of their system, you could even create a DVD disk with the image on it if they have a DVD writer.  Or in fact you can hook up a DVD writer temporarily, then it can be read on a DVD rom as normal.

The software creates a boot disk for you and then you run the boot disk and it makes the image, you can either store it on another drive on their machine although by the sounds of the people they would probably delete that.  Unless you hide it of corse :)  

Then if the bugger up in the future, you can charge them for restoring the machine, like i say it is not your problem if the do not surf safe.  Its not your problem that they get infected with viruses, or spyware of worms or even trojans.  That rather is down to them.

If you decide to use Ghost heres a great tutorial pdf file on how to use it http://ghost.radified.com/ghost2_rad.pdf

Good luck with them, and in the future charge them for your time.  They will soon stop calling when it costs them money, and obviously you won't mind so much either.  You don't get nothing for being nice with people like them, although I would help anyone out, but there are some who take the mickey!

pjcrooks2000

if ti is a kids machine and data loss is not a concern install go back professioinal on it.

this can be configured to basically re image teh hard dire every tiem it is rebooted.

or can be used a little less intrusivley by just restoring back to a good point when it gets hosed

another thing I have done for problematic pc's(users is set the system up as follows (assuming there is hard disk space)

partitioin 20gb drive as follows

5gb O\S and applications C:\
10Gb userdata D:\
4gb (remaining space) E:\

once the o\s drivers adn applicatinos are isntalled i will map the mydocuments folder on teh desktop to a folder on D:\

then i will create a ghost image of C:\ and store it on E:\ and make the file READ ONLY

then instruct them to save anything important to the my documents folder or to D:\

when it gets hosed run ghost or instruct user on how to run ghost and restore C:\ to the way YOU installed it.

There is some hardware for drive cloning if thats what you looking for, i just noticed you mentioned hardware and not software.  Drive replication is the only hardware i think of, here are some devices I am sure you find others http://www.upgradesolutions.com/products/products.htm but be warned they are very expensive so go for the software option instead.

pjcrooks2000

You're not talking about a SNAP server are you?  I thought they did something like that.  I thought it was called SNAP backup.  Anyway, the info is on:

www.snapappliance.com

Sounds a bit too high-end for one PC.  Just thought I'd mention it in case that's what you were thinking of.

Jeff

Since 2 to 3gig HDDs are a dime a dozen, I create the users setup and clone that image to a 2gig HD and leave it unconnected in the PC. They have a good image to restore their machine. I use Drive Image Pro to create the restore routine. Drive Image Pro is a wonderful program.

If your building or servicing PCs I would insist the user purchase Ghost (imaging program) and use a 2 or 3 gig Hd to create the first backup image of the original installation. Then disconnect it and then run Ghost for another image backup to the users primary drive. Ghost will keep that image up-to-date during every system restart.  

I do not know if this is what you want, but if you install the system from scratch, with all programs and games on it and running; you can then take a ghost image, burn it to a CD or DVD. Then everytime they screw up the sytem, you can simply restore the sytem to that state. Here a link to it :

www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal

You can also use  a software based program that will restore your system to the way you set it up, just by restarting the system. The program is called Deep Freeze. Check out

http://www.faronics.com.

Yea you guys are getting the picture but what I am looking for is a piece of hardware that sits in a pci slot and has an actual key that you turn when you want the data to be saved and then turn it back again and nothing will be saved , I want it so every time they start it , there is nothing but their little Im clients and office , and a partion for saving the data. Let me put it this way , I do not want them to ever be able to save stuff to the hdd , this way they can't screw it up. but the hardware lets the computer function just like usual. but on restart everything is gone, i know they are out there they had them in my college a few years back .. Sorry I was not more presice last time but thanks evrey one for their answers.

Never heard of such a device,

Usually the fact of whether you can save data to a hard drive is controled by the system administrator, they normally set poilicies up for users that simply take away privileges to be able to do certain tasks.   By the way you cannot stop them from saving data to the hard drive as you explained as if this were to occur then there would be no point in them having a PC at all.  This would mean that they could not create a word document, or a text file or anything else.  This route is not the wat to go in my opinion!

You should stand up for yourself and tell the family that if they break it then they pay to have it fixed, you should make a clone of the system the next time you reload it.  Then if you get any calls you tell them it will cost x to visit the system and x per hours to fix your problems unless they are hardware driven faults and the parts are under warranty still.

Stop fixing their cock ups for nothing they will soon get the message, the more you do it the more they will bother you!  The next thing they will be doing is ringing you up at all sorts of inconvenient times just to ask you how to copy and paste from an excel sheet, i am sure you get the idea!

I hope you can see my reasoning and apply it, this is based on many years of experience with people and how to get rid of annoying people like these who for some strange reason think that it is your fault when their system goes belly up!   Stop blaming yourself and stand up for yourself.  You did a good job, it's not your fault that they did something to break it!

pjcrooks2000

No it lets you do all the system stuff you need like read writing and paging , but when  the computer is restarted , all those  changes are reversed .
Almost like the drive is dumped onto the card and it knows what has been changes and know what to keep and what to not.

Ahhh, well in that case as long as it does not delete important files for the customer then it's a good thing.  But no I have never heard of such a device.  You could ring your college and speak to your old tutor?

I would ring my old tutor rather than spending years trying to think about it :)

pjcrooks2000

fulp02, have you read my comment about Reborn Card? It *is* what you are searching.

Like I sead in my first comment: "Juzt Reboot" !!!
You can also go for another brand of the SAME THING: "Reborn card"
They are also availeble as: "Boot and Go" and "Winschool" (if we are gonna sum up brandnames ;-))

They are small pci-card'd's wich are not accessible from outside the computer. When configured and locked you can even format your harddisk, but after a REBOOT everything is restored!

And like tapkep mentioned: it IS the awnser you where searching! These are the ONLY hardware solutions that fit your description.

AlfaLAN, it seems that too short answer is easily overlooked ;) (at least i just now found your first post... *blush*)

They use GoBack in my school to restore the computer to a specific time in the past, and when  mean restore, I mean all the files, registry, everything. It does it really fast. To install something, you disable it, install, create a restore point, enable and restart.\
http://www.symantec.com/goback/

Hey, this is NOT FAIR!!! Points should AT LEAST be split (aside from the fact that I was the first to give a correct awnser).
Page-editor/Admin Pleas HELP!!!

AlfaLan, I totally agree with you ... the points should have been split between you and tapkep.

Infact you were the first to suggest a suitable hardware.

 fulp02, it would have been a fair game if you could have split the points between Alfalan and tapkep.

I agree with AlfaLAN and XSINUX, points should be split.