“We recently created a GED lab at The Bridge so that adolescents could work toward completing their high school equivalency,” says Andrew Kilpatrick. “We made organizational history with the creation of that lab—that’s something we’re all proud of.”
Founded in 1974, The Bridge is a non-profit organization that provides substance abuse treatment and behavioral rehabilitation programs for adolescents in Alabama. As Technical Support Specialist for The Bridge, Kilpatrick is responsible for ensuring the smooth operations of the facility’s IT infrastructure.
“I don’t have a lot of time to constantly repair damaged computers, so I looked into ways in which I could create a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ computer lab,” Kilpatrick recalls. “What I found were two software products, Deep Freeze and WINSelect, from Faronics Corporation, that really made my life easier.”
Deep Freeze ensures that The Bridge’s computer configurations are indestructible. All changes made to the system—either by the user, spyware, malware or viruses—are reset upon computer restart. Aside from a hardware failure, Deep Freeze eliminates system downtime. Users enjoy a trouble-free computing experience, and IT personnel such as Kilpatrick are freed from tedious technical support and software issues caused by workstation configuration drift.
WINSelect provides The Bridge with the ability to manage the functionality of their public access and library computers by delivering full control over computer system settings. IT administrators are easily able to customize a computer’s capabilities by restricting user access to certain applications, Web sites, program functions and system settings. According to Kilpatrick, WINSelect is easy to deploy and use, and allows him to dynamically configure systems without the hassle and complexity of Group Policies. He can also selectively control third-party programs, regulate user activity and lock down various operating system functions.
“With the help of WINSelect, we don’t have to worry about the lab as much. WINSelect prevents even our most clever students from doing the things we don’t want them to do, such as making system changes, accessing unauthorized Web sites, playing games, etc.” Kilpatrick says.
When asked why The Bridge chose WINSelect, Kilpatrick responds, “The pricing was great, and Faronics has always been good to us—as a non-profit organization. They’ve always provided us with competitive pricing. We did look at some freeware alternatives, but the only support you get from those are in forums. Faronics provides superior support that’s free with every product purchase. It was an easy decision.”
“I deal with a lot of companies and software vendors. Faronics is by far the all around best in terms of products, services and support.”
A free, fully functional evaluation version of Deep Freeze (Windows, Mac, Linux) and WINSelect (Windows) can be downloaded from www.faronics.com. Both products also come in enterprise versions, which provide centralized deployment and management capabilities.
