A problem with maintaining shared computers (i.e. training machines) is it hard to keep the machines all in a predictable working condition. Many programs require more than mere ‘user’ level access meaning student logins may need ‘power user’ or even ‘administrator’ access. Of course, with increased access comes increased risk as students could potentially download and install malicious files.

A tool to help combat this is SteadyState. This free tool from Microsoft reverts a Windows installation back to a safe state after use. The most appealing feature states:

Windows Disk Protection – Help protect the Windows partition, which contains the Windows operating system and other programs, from being modified without administrator approval.Windows SteadyState allows you to set Windows Disk Protection to remove all changes upon restart, to remove changes at a certain date and time, or to not remove changes at all. If you choose to use Windows Disk Protection to remove changes, any changes made by shared users when they are logged on to the computer are removed when the computer is restarted

I plan on implementing this tool on our training laptops as sometimes the actions of users can less than respectful for the people maintaining the machines…