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When I was in charge of a busy local area network (LAN), one of the persistent problems I had to cope with was impatient users trying to fix their own computer problems or 'smart' users trying to make 'clever' changes to their systems. Whether busy or 'smart' the result was always the same from my perspective, a tricky, nasty mess! This could be anything from deleted files to reformatted disks, usually as a result of answering 'yes' to that popular line 'Press OK to continue'. Never as quick to press Escape or CTRL X, Y or Z, they would sit there, watching and listening to the longer than usual purring of the hard disk, more than suspicious of their actions. Only when silence returned, would they pick up the phone and scream for help.

If you are lucky enough to have Teachers Smart Card installed on your workstations you do not need to worry about the previous scenario. This is a brilliant innovation and I am sure that its use will become widespread sooner rather than later. You simply power off the machine, slot the card in and reboot and follow the simple installation instructions. From here on in, if a busy or 'smart' user behaves predictably, you simply reboot the machine to restore it to its former glory. This includes applications as well as systems changes. So, if you messed up your Word pagination, spelling and toolbars, the original settings would be recovered.

One of the best features of this product is that the reboot will return everything to normal, even after a virus attack. If you are the LAN/Network manager, and you install a Teachers Smart Card on each machine you are first of all giving yourself cost-effective control over local and disparate workstations. No more long phone calls giving step by step instructions to irate users on how to reset their systems, and/or no more deployment of IT staff to do the job in person. Users will now have the freedom to experiment and make mistakes without any cost to themselves or you.

The card itself is available in three formats: PCI, ISA and PCI + 10/100 'Wake on LAN' network card. PCI versions are available for Windows 95/98 and Windows NT/2000. If you have a Windows NT/2000 machine you will have to reinstall the operating system after installing the card. This is not necessary for Windows 95/98 machines, although it is recommended that you defragment the disk. In either case, if you have already designated partitions on the hard drive, you will need to back them up, as they will be destroyed during the installation process. A hidden advantage of this whole process is that it forces you to rethink the organization of your hard disk.

Two types of recovery method are supported, 'Instant' and 'Backup'. Instant Recovery is recommended for Windows 95 and 98 installations. With this method, a hidden buffer is reserved on the hard disk. This hidden partition will store changes to the working disk and, on reboot, will cause the changes to be reversed and so restore the hard disk to its original state. There is a realistic limit to the number of changes which can be stored in the buffer. Before each session, an indicator informs the user of the amount of unused buffer space available. If this is exceeded, they will be prevented from making any further changes and will have to perform a reboot to restore the disk to the original state and empty the buffer.

With Instant Recovery, Teachers Smart Card allows two modes of access, Supervisor (password required) or User mode. In Supervisor mode, changes can be freely made to the computer environment as if the card was not installed, and these will remain intact when the machine is rebooted. This would include installing application software, reconfiguring operating systems or adding new hardware drivers. User mode obviously undoes all changes on reboot. If you are unfortunate enough to forget the Supervisor password you will only be able to access the computer as a User. Even if you remove the card to get fuller access to the machine you will not be able to access the hidden/backup partition. Ed. note: since the review unit was sent, on the latest versions of the card the supplier is now able to retrieve the password for the user via an email or telephone dialogue.

Backup Recovery is recommended for Windows NT/2000 machines. Backup Recovery causes the partition to be bisected, the hidden half being a mirror of the other half. On subsequent start-ups the working partition is overwritten by the contents of the hidden partition, thereby restoring the original configuration. The great advantage of this method is that there is no limit to the number of changes you can make to the working partition, and if restorations are required infrequently, this is the best method for Windows 95/98 also.

On initial installation, you designate part of the hard disk on which to store changes made to the C: drive. You could also use say, D: for data, which may or may not be restored on each reboot and E: to hold another operating system. Thus, on rebooting, all the operating system environment (icons, colors etc.) plus, for example, Word toolbars and spelling options, would be restored on each reboot, while the users' data files on D: would remain untouched. At any time you can go back into the C: drive and make any changes which will stay for all subsequent User sessions.

If you are using the network version of Teachers Smart Card, there are some important features worth mentioning. If you are setting up a new network, and want all the workstations to be configured identically to take advantage of the Teachers Smart Card, this can be accomplished simply and quickly by using the HDD Copy from Network feature. In addition, the Wake on LAN function allows you to remotely boot all the receiver machines from the sender machine thus avoiding the need to switch each workstation off and on.

Ed. note: Lodestar says that the non-network versions of the card offer a disk-cloning utility of up to three disks from a master concurrently via the IDE cable.
   

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