Deep Freeze provides protective capabilities to individual PCs by remembering and restoring their configurations to a known, clean state each time the machine is restarted. Users are free to make any changes they wish to the machine while they are working on it; all changes are wiped clean and the system is restored the next time the PC is restarted. Deep Freeze is offered in two primary versions: Standard and Enterprise. Additionally, specific, and separate versions are provided for Mac OS X machines (which integrates with Apple Remote Desktop), Windows 2000/2003 Servers, and Linux. Note that not all described features below may be available in all versions; see the vendor's site for full details.

Deep Freeze standard is targeted to environments consisting of 10 or less workstations. Features of Deep Freeze Standard include:

- Password required for administrative functions

- Supports multiple hard drives and partitions; includes SCSI, ATA, SATA, and IDE hard drive support

- Supports FAT, FAT32, NTFS, basic and dynamic disks

- "Silent install" option for network deployment; can also be deployed as part of a master image

For larger computing environments, the vendor offers Deep Freeze Enterprise, which includes centralized management capabilities (install, control, manage) via an included GUI Enterprise Console. To the base feature set, Deep Freeze Enterprise adds scheduled maintenance capabilities, allowing for the designation of maintenance intervals for the processing of Windows updates, customized batch files, A/V updates, etc. Installations can be remotely managed via command line controls, and a "ThawSpace" utility allows for the creation of areas on PCs where permanent files can be saved. Custom installation options allow for the pre-configuring of Deep Freeze, and a one-time password generation system is included.

Additional Deep Freeze Enterprise features are tailored for the remote (LAN, WAN, Internet), centralized deployment and management of large numbers of Deep Freeze PCs; including:

- Activate scheduled tasks from the Enterprise Console (i.e. restart, shutdown, Wake-On-LAN, Freeze, Thaw, and Thaw Locked)

- Manage workstations via User Defined Groups and sub-groups; populate groups with automatic filters and import groups and containers from Active Directory

- Automatically update all pre-existing installation files

- An included plug-in that allows Deep Freeze to be managed via LANDesk

The Deep Freeze Mac software, in particular, is a Universal app supporting both Intel/PPC Macs. New features in the latest Deep Freeze Mac version include Leopard support, and support for "Integrated Mapping," which enables the product to retain user data across restarts by mapping user accounts (individually or by user type) to a second partition or Thawspace.

Deep Freeze pricing starts at about $328 (Standard), which includes 10 workstation licenses and a year of maintenance. Volume discounts are available.

Deep Freeze is available now. Contact Faronics for further information.