DEV Community: Carl Hand

System Restore Functionality in Windows 7 - How It Works

Carl Hand — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 12:35:06 +0000

Getting a malfunctioning Windows OS (operating system) back to the desired configuration can be really challenging for end-users. It generally requires complicated system recovery methods such as reimaging or formatting the systems.

To help mitigate the complexities that crop up when rectifying a system error, Microsoft Windows 7 offers multiple inbuilt recovery tools. System recovery options in Windows 7 include restore, repair, and few other diagnostic tools that help users resolve various system issues like system slowdown, boot errors, and reboot loops.

Here is a breakdown of all the major system restore options in Windows 7, how they function, and the situations where they are helpful.

Various System Restore Options in Windows 7 & How They Work

Startup Repair: This recovery tool is used to scan the entire system that helps Windows 7 users to identify and resolve certain system issues. For example, Startup Repair can help end-users fix some damaged or missing system files that were probably preventing the computer from starting properly.

This tool can also resolve system issues arising due to users accidentally modifying critical system files, or installing an application that led to unexpected changes in a system file affecting the overall functionality of the OS.

System Image Recovery: A system image is a customizable backup of the partition that includes Windows, along with certain key programs and user data, such as documents and images. Users need to create a system image beforehand for recovering the system. Running System Image Recovery will only recover the folders, applications, and files that were present when the system image was created. Any system changes performed after it will be completely lost.

System Restore: If a system running on Windows 7 OS is behaving sluggishly, end-users can revert it to a previous point in time when it was working fine, using the Windows system restore. It is important to note that Windows system restore does not affect user’s personal files.

To use Windows system restore effectively, at least one restore point needs to be created. This essentially is a snapshot of the computer’s settings, Windows Registry, and system files at a specific date and time. Once System Restore is enabled, Windows automatically starts creating restore points especially when the system undergoes major changes such as OS upgrades or any new software or driver installations. Restore points can also be created manually which helps end-users ensure that they have the copy of the best state of the PC prior to the changes being made. If a system error occurs, reverting to any Windows 7 restore point would actually provide users with the exact state of the operating system as it was before the changes were being made.

Steps to Create a Restore Point Manually

In order to create a restore point in Windows 7, users can perform the following steps:

Select ‘Control Panel’ from the ‘Start Menu’ and choose ‘System & Security’. When the dialog box appears, click on ‘System’.
Click the ‘System Protection’ link which will appear on the left panel.
From the following dialog box of ‘System Properties,’ choose the ‘System Protection’ tab.
The tab will show an option to create new restore points. Click on the “Create” button, following which the dialog box named “Create a Restore Point” will appear on the screen.
Users can then add a description which helps in identifying the restore point. When it is done, click on the “Create” button on the dialog box.
Windows alert will pop-up when the restore point is successfully created. Clicking on the “Close” button will complete the process.

Steps to Perform System Restore in Windows 7

In order to run Windows system restore on any computer, users need to do the following:

Go to Start > All Programs > Accessories, and select the ‘System Tools’ program.
Select the program icon called ‘System Restore’ from the ‘System Tools’ program. A window named 'Restore system files and settings' will appear.
Click on the ‘Next’ button that will open up the list of all automatically and manually created restore points. Users need to choose any one of them.
Click on ‘Next’, once the desired restore point has been chosen.
Select the ‘Finish’ button when ‘Confirm your Restore Point’ window appears on the screen. This will begin the Windows system restore process.
A box with the message “Once started, System Restore cannot be interrupted. Do you want to continue?” will appear on the screen. To proceed, click on “Yes”.

Note: The system restore functionality will now restore the Windows 7 operating system to the chosen restore point. This process might take 10-30 minutes. With the completion of the process, the computer will reboot.

7. After logging into Windows, when the reboot process is complete, a dialog box will appear on screen with the message “System Restore completed successfully.” Users then need to click the ‘Close’ button to finish the process.

Note: if the system error persists even after running Windows system restore, users can try restoring their system again by choosing a different restore point.

Advantages of Reboot to Restore Technology over Windows System Restore Functionality

Windows system restore is generally a time-consuming process. Besides, executing few of the recovery tools in Windows 7 may also require a bit of technical knowledge. Effective software solutions based on the reboot to restore technology can help Windows users preserve and protect a baseline configuration of the system as desired by them. After every reboot, such solutions can restore any Windows 7 system to that pre-defined state, thus ensuring 100% system availability at all times. Instead of going through complicated system recovery steps as found in Windows system restore, end-users simply restart the machine to restore its original configuration. In addition, all user-made changes are wiped clean with each reboot. The PC is in a clean state at all times.

Solutions empowered by the reboot to restore technology take only a fraction of the memory space when compared to similar solutions in the market. The technology has been gaining momentum owing to its ability to preserve the original configuration of systems and make it tamperproof. As a result, recurring system issues like configuration drifts, accidental malware downloads, and more can be effectively addressed with a push of the restart button. Thus, the solution offers immense convenience and help yield the desired results much more effectively than the inbuilt system restore tools of Windows 7.

With Student Monitoring Software Keep Your Classroom Distraction-free

Carl Hand — Tue, 22 May 2018 12:25:31 +0000

Internet accessibility within classrooms has opened the gateway for an exponential amount of digital study material and web content for students to access and learn from. However, such unrestricted digital learning environment can also expose students to a plethora of non-educational and inappropriate online content.

There is a high chance of students getting involved in disruptive web activities such as browsing social media or other unauthorized websites, playing games, and using instant messaging applications to chat and distract fellow students. They can also get involved in malevolent online activities without even knowing the risk and consequences of falling prey to online criminals and cyber-bullying while accessing inappropriate websites. This can lead to disruption in the flow of learning activities, affecting the academic performance of students in the long-run.

Using class control software has, therefore, become imperative for any educator to manage and eliminate digital diversions from classrooms. Such software solutions can limit students' access to distracting websites and application programs and help teachers make the classroom activities more engaging. Teachers can also check the academic progress of students with the advanced tools provided by a class control software like Insight and provide immediate feedback. Such software solutions are enabling teachers to inculcate a responsible, fair, and secure use of internet and other digital resources in students and increase their classroom participation.

How a Class Control Software can help teachers minimize classroom distractions?

The sole purpose of allowing web access to students is to enhance learning within the classroom. However, easy availability of digital tools can lead to many distractions and classroom management issues. Teachers get wary of leveraging technology in the classroom due to multiple unwarranted online activities on the part of students. On the other hand, a student monitoring software helps teachers streamline the entire process and simplifies their job of managing a digital classroom.

Effective school computer lab management software solutions are not only easy to use, but also enable teachers to establish discipline within a digital environment. Teachers can get cutting-edge classroom management tools to supervise, curb, and restrict students from doing unscrupulous web activities, thus retaining their focus on learning.

Here’s how a class control software help teachers neutralize distractions and unregulated web activities of students inside the classroom:

Effective Classroom Monitoring

Teachers often resort to manual approach when it comes to classroom supervision, mostly by taking a stroll around the classroom or taking a look at the student’s screen to check their web actions. But such classroom management methodologies are turning out to be futile in digital classrooms where students are operating multiple devices.

A classroom monitoring software enables teachers to check and monitor all students’ screens in real time through thumbnails from their own computers. They can also keep a track of what each student is doing on their devices, without having to worry about the classroom layout, or rearranging the seat of students. This provides teachers with an increased visibility of the entire classroom. If any student is found to be distracted, teachers can instantly disable their keyboard or mouse activity. This acts as an alert to the distracted students about their inappropriate computer usage and helps teachers to redirect them back to the class. Teachers can also perform better supervision and gain superior control over classroom exercises of students by blocking specific applications or websites being accessed by students in the class if those are found to be inappropriate.

Remote Access To Students’ Devices

An effective classroom computer management software enables the teacher to remotely take control of any student’s device without moving from their physical desk. If students lack enough focus or are engaged in some disruptive online activity, the teacher can blank out their screens. Apart from this, remote access also helps teachers to provide one-to-one assistance to any student when required.

Website Filtering

Most institutions readily allow students to get their own devices in classroom ranging from laptops, tablets, and Chromebooks, providing access to an array of distractions. Music, online games, shopping portals, social networking, and photo sharing sites are mostly visited by students which actually divert their attention. This leads to the wastage of school network bandwidth as well.

A robust student monitoring software allows students to browse through a selected list of websites only by limiting the access of the rest. The IP addresses of websites as per the usage pattern of students and curriculum requirements can be used to blacklist or whitelist certain websites. Thus, unnecessary web distractions are eliminated completely and attention of students is retained in the lesson being taught.

Application Limiting

A student monitoring software can be used to limit students’ access to unauthorized applications. It allows teachers and IT admins to build a customized set of required digital resources for students to study and learn. During an ongoing class, teachers can inspect the list of running applications on the students’ device and allow/ limit their access as per the requirement of the ongoing session.

Secure Assessment method

A student monitoring software can empower teachers to take proactive measures against online cheating by letting them conduct examinations in a locked and protected environment. Teachers can create and conduct online tests quickly while limiting students’ freedom to browse unregulated websites or access unauthorized applications. They can also check the screens of each device in real-time during the examination and give feedback right away by using the automatic grading system.

Using student monitoring software, teachers can eliminate classroom distractions and promote online practices that uphold academic integrity. Class management software like Faronics Insight works as an all-enveloping solution that offers robust classroom management capabilities facilitating appropriate control for teachers over the online access and device usage of students. Effective elimination of distractions enables teachers to create a transparent classroom environment which promotes collaboration among students, thus helping them learn in a better way.

Deep Freeze - A Preferred Windows SteadyState Alternative for Multi-user Computing Environments

Carl Hand — Thu, 03 May 2018 07:45:14 +0000

Multi-user workstations are a common sight in classrooms, public libraries, and business centers. Not every user interacts with a system in the same way. Some may end up downloading malicious files without knowing or tamper with the admin-defined system settings during individual sessions. Public access computers, therefore, are susceptible to virus infiltration, slow performance, and configuration drifts. Being connected on a shared network, there remains a possibility of potential threats spreading across the entire network. Consequently, IT teams spend a considerable amount of time, effort, and resources to revert systems to a functional state to provide users with uninterrupted and unrestricted computing experience.

In-built system recovery tools like Windows SteadyState allowed IT administrators managing public access computers to roll back systems to a saved configuration state, ensuring the desired protection of Windows workstations. However, after its discontinuation in 2010, potent reboot to restore solutions like Deep Freeze effectively filled the gap. As the most preferred Windows SteadyState alternative, Deep Freeze offers instant Windows system recovery solutions while eliminating the scope of sudden disruptions.

Windows SteadyState: Functionality & Limitations

SteadyState is a free tool made available by Microsoft for the 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista. It aids IT personnel to manage and maintain shared computer environments, as found in schools, airports, public libraries, and hospitals. Windows SteadyState provides complete disk protection facility that can revert the changes made by end-users with a reboot, and restore the system configuration back to the desired state as preserved by the IT admins.

Windows SteadyState works by redirecting all the user-made changes in the hard drive into a temporary cache. In its ‘Discard Mode,’ Windows SteadyState can clear these cache when the machine is rebooted while rolling it back to the admin-defined baseline. When the ‘Persist Mode’ is enabled, it can retain the cache intact across reboots and IT admins may choose to retain the changes. Otherwise, the cache will expire after a specified duration. In its ‘Commit Mode,’ Windows SteadyState does not redirect anything to the cache, thus making all changes to have a permanent effect on the system. IT managers can also use this tool to customize user environments. Users can be restricted to perform several actions that are not appropriate for a specific computing environment. For example, it allowed disabling Windows Registry, Command Prompt, or turning off the Control Panel.

Windows SteadyState was discontinued by Microsoft in 2010. This left many public workstations relying on SteadyState vulnerable to malware, viruses, and lasting system changes. Windows SteadyState does not support any 64-bit versions of Windows Operating Systems (OS). Consequently, IT professionals managing systems running on latest Windows editions, encounter a pressing need for alternative solutions holding similar functionality as SteadyState.

Deep Freeze by Faronics is a preferred Windows SteadyState alternative that leverages the patented reboot to restore technology to fill the void left by SteadyState and assures 100% system availability with every restart.

Deep Freeze: A Viable Windows SteadyState Alternative for Managing Multi-User Computing Environments

Deep Freeze is an effective system recovery software that allows IT admins to setup and control a baseline configuration. With each reboot, this reboot to restore solution can revert the system back to that predefined state, while eliminating all user-induced changes. By preserving and protecting the configuration state as established by IT admins, Deep Freeze makes endpoints virtually unbreakable.

Deep Freeze offers benefits over and above SteadyState had to offer. The solution runs well with the latest versions of Windows including Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10, which makes it the most comprehensive and reliable Windows SteadyState alternative. Owing to the non-restrictive nature of Reboot to Restore technology, users have unrestricted access to the web and the system. All changes, accidental or malicious, are wiped clean with each reboot, while Deep Freeze rolls back the system to its original, pristine state. Thus, it empowers end-users to fix common system problems themselves. Consequently, dependence on IT reduces.

Deep Freeze has been one of the most preferred Windows SteadyState alternative among global organizations, to maintain multi-user computing environments. It offers distinct benefits as follows:

One Solution for All Common System Issues: The reboot to restore technology of Deep Freeze makes the restoration of the admin-desired baseline configuration an instantaneous and hassle-free task. It also rids the systems of all undesirable changes across reboots. This aids IT managers to deal with recurring system issues, such as configuration drifts, malware/virus attacks, and unauthorized software installations, with efficacy.

Offering Great Ease-of-Use: Deep Freeze is quite easy to install and deploy on any workstation. All IT managers have to do is to establish a desired configuration state and enable it on the system. Deep Freeze allows IT managers to schedule various maintenance tasks, so as to automate 3rd party software updates as well as Windows updates.

Centralized management of all Workstations: The Enterprise version of Deep Freeze comes with a powerful admin console that can be centrally managed. This enables IT admins to remotely configure, update, and manage all Windows systems connected over a network. It thus provides IT managers with the much-needed control over the targeted workstations, helping them take preventive measures promptly and mitigating any chances of system errors.

Quick and advanced system recovery capabilities of Deep Freeze makes it a coveted Windows SteadyState alternative for IT managers looking to streamline their IT operations in multi-user computing environments. The reboot to restore functionalities and extended capabilities of this solution can help IT teams reduce system maintenance cost to a great extent and ensure their peak performance at all times.