Raxco Softwares FirstDefense-ISR (Immediate System Recovery) utility enables users to easily roll back systems from failures. However, it works only with newer Windows versions, including Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003.
FirstDefense-ISR shipped last month and is priced at $45 for Windows 2000/XP workstations or $350 for Windows 2000/2003 servers. Volume licensing starts at $235 for five workstation licenses and $1,600 for five server licenses.
FirstDefense-ISR is a better choice than the built-in System Restore in Windows XP or Automated System Recovery in Windows 2003 and XP because it can quickly restore a virus-infected operating system to its previous state.
If a Windows XP system using System Restore gets infected by a worm, however, it is possible that the virus will be backed up by System Restore.
After setup, FirstDefense-ISR takes a snapshot of the files in the boot partition. Snapshots are stored in the default operating system drive for quick rollback. The utility runs in the background, taking periodic snapshots of system changes.
To conserve disk space, I could exclude directories when taking snapshots.
FirstDefense-ISRs Data Anchoring feature allowed me to make sure user data files were current across all snapshots.
For more information on FirstDefense-ISR, check out www.raxco.com.