Windows SteadyState

5.0 stars

"Fantastic-- exactly what we need"

December 1, 2011  |   By VacavilleGordon

Version: Windows SteadyState 2.5

Pros

Keeps computer somewhat 'fresh'
Similar in philosophy to industrial operating systems, it can allow saving of your data without saving changes to the operating system.
Highly configurable. As much or little protection as you want. Depending on how it is set up, it >can< speedup most boot-ups.

Cons

Very slightly inconvenient, in that you are presented with a dialog box upon shutdown or log-off asking if you want to save changes.
And, it does take some time to set up.

Summary

1.)If you crashed your car, insurance would help you buy a new car. And hopefully you weren't injured in the crash. But what if you could crash your car, not be injured, and have your car back to 100% just by rebooting?
That's what Steady-State is all about.
2.)What slows your computer down the most, and usually just when you want to use it the most? OS updates, anti-virus updates, and various program and hardware updates can slow your machine to a crawl on boot-up, and all you wanted to do was check for movie times or directions, or to get email. WHY do you need daily updates? Oh, because your computer can get trashed by viruses. Well, if you run Steady-State you can set all updates to Manual and only run them occasionally, every few weeks or similar. Your computer now only has to boot the OS, without the update overhead, so it is faster out of the gate, not to mention faster from having a relatively pristine, uncorrupted OS.
3.)Ask yourself why you NEED for your operating system files to be as volatile and changeable as it is. Your data- sure. You WANT to be able to save that paper you are writing, or the spreadsheet you programmed, database entries, or mp3's or videos. But, your OS? REALLY? By keeping your OS vulnerable, you will need to upgrade more often, which puts your $$$ into who's pockets? Anyone? Anyone? Buhler? (Which is probably why MS pulled SS off of their website, because it is too good, cuts future business.)
I have used MS Shared Computer Toolkit and now Steady-State on five different computers. Yes, some time needs to be spent setting them up, but it's not hard. It IS do-able.
Do a search for Steady-State and Windows 7 and you'll find that there are a HUGE number of very knowledgeable IT professionals who bemoan the loss of Steady-State, and say that is the #1 reason why they cannot upgrade their businesses to Win 7. So far, MS doesn't have an answer as to why they've not made Steady-State available for Win 7.
If MS wants to rake in a huge amount of sales right now, despite this bad economy, make an SS version for the newer 64-bit OS's available. Make a version of Win 8 that has SS capability. Then and only then will you see IT professionals buying and upgrading again!

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