Function Category

Description

Stand

alone

Client

User Interface

DOS mode

‧ Allow access to the “DOS mode” user interface by hotkey before Windows starts. PS2/USB mouse is supported in DOS mode.

‧ The DOS mode enables recovery operation even while system is damaged.

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Client of LAN version or WAN version takes requests from Console through network to remotely execute functions such as NetCopy.

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Windows mode

‧ Product functions can be directly executed under the “Windows mode” user interface. Some commands require a reboot in order to take effect.

‧ Simplified Windows GUI makes operation easy to understand. It offers two operation modes:

(1) Regular mode: Large icon and button. Default control panel.

(2) Advanced mode: Display full control panel for all functions. (Only “Admin” account can access advanced mode.)

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Display / Hide tray icon

During installation, the administrator can select whether to “Display” or “Hide” the tray icon of SysReturn under Windows. The administrator won’t recognize the user interface of SysReturn if “Hide” is selected.

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After Client signs into Console, the tray icon display/hide setting for Client can be managed from Console.

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Installation

Double-click automated installation

The parameters required for installation can be preset on “Setup.cfg” which must be saved in the same directory as “Setup.exe”. Then double click on Setup.exe and the installation will automatically complete. This installation method is suitable for large-scale implementation and saves manpower.

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Network management module

‧ SysReturn can’t switch from “Stand-alone” to “Client” after installation is completed.

‧ During installation, if “network management module” option is selected, SysReturn will become Client controllable by “Console for LAN” or “Console for WAN”.

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Upgrade

Automatic upgrade

‧ Client automatically checks whether any upgrade pack is available on Console; if any, Client will automatically download and install the upgrade pack.

‧ Available option for automatic upgrade: When any upgrade pack is detected, Client will prompt users. The upgrade pack will be downloaded and executed only if users confirm this operation.

‧ Upgrade pack contains the Save setting which takes place right after the upgrade pack is installed. After SysReturn is upgraded, system will automatically save the state as a new “dynamic recovery point” or the “primary recovery point” according to this Save setting.

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Manual upgrade

‧ The built-in upgrade utility enables the administrator to manually install upgrade packs in order to upgrade SysReturn.

‧ Upgrade pack contains the Save setting which takes place right after the upgrade pack is installed. After SysReturn is upgraded, system will automatically save the state as a new “dynamic recovery point” or the “primary recovery point” according to this Save setting.

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Upgrade history

All upgrade history information of SysReturn such as upgrade pack ID number, upgrade date and upgrade details is available to view.

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System automatically records the information of upgrade packs which Client has downloaded from Console.

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Uninstall

Prior to uninstall

‧ The administrator has to enter a password in order to uninstall SysReturn. Hard drive data will not be damaged after uninstall.

‧ You can select an action from the three options below prior to uninstall:

(1) Recover to the state of “primary recovery point”

(2) Recover to the state of any “dynamic recovery point”

(3) Save current state of hard drive

‧ Uninstall from DOS mode does not damage hard drive data but will recover hard drive to the state of primary recovery point prior to uninstall.

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Forcible uninstall

The administrator can choose whether to forcibly uninstall SysReturn. During uninstall, system keeps all non-recovered data (non-recovered folder and file). But if the partition doesn’t have enough free space to save non-recovered data in itself, user can do the follows:

(1) System will stop uninstall operation and warn the administrator to take a proper action to save non-recovered data.

(2) Data in non-recovered folders of this partition will NOT be kept if the administrator chooses forcible uninstall.

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Product Characteristics

“Install and Play!”

‧ SysReturn only protects the first physical hard drive.

‧ SysReturn has adopted “Install and Play!” technology for system recovery protection and has no requirement to re-partition hard drive, reserve buffering space or re-install operating system.

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Recovery point

‧ “Recovery point” includes primary recovery point and dynamic recovery point. Each “recovery point” denotes an independent Windows operating environment.

‧ Amount of recovery points: “Recovery point” includes a “primary recovery point” and maximum 29 independent “dynamic recovery points”. During installation, the administrator can set the limit for the amount of available recovery points (2~30 recovery points).

‧ It only takes a reboot and a few seconds to finish saving the current state as a new “dynamic recovery point”. The time taken to update (save as) the “primary recovery point” depends on the volume of data.

‧ When saving a recovery point, the administrator has the option to replace (save as) an existing recovery point no longer needed in order to release the space occupied by it.

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Switch back and forth between recovery points

‧ Support multi-point recovery function. The administrator can arbitrarily switch hard drive state Back and FORTH between different recovery points

‧ Among different “recovery points”, the administrator can save each computer state (e.g. Working Environment 1, 2, 3…; Gaming Environment 1, 2, 3…) for various applications and switch back and forth to any “recovery point” without affecting the others.

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Dynamic hard disk space management

(1) During installation: occupy very little hard disk space.

During installation, each “recovery point” set for maximum occupies only 0.05% of hard disk space. For example, for a 100GB hard drive, each recovery point occupies only 50MB.

(2) Daily use: allocate hard disk space dynamically.

Regarding the buffer zone in hard drive, SysReturn can dynamically acquire hard disk space according to the volume transition of protected data. The administrator does not need to reserve space in advance for buffer zone during the installation and can efficiently manage hard disk space.

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Automatic hard disk space optimization

‧ Every time when a new recovery point is created, SysReturn optimizes the protected data (combines all fragmental files and folders in hard drive to enhance system efficiency).

‧ System automatically checks the hard drive during system startup and verifies whether it’s necessary to automatically optimize the data protected by SysReturn according to the detected condition of hard drive. Besides, the administrator can manually defragment hard drive under DOS mode to optimize hard drive space.

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Instant recovery

‧ High speed: To execute Recover command, the administrator just needs to restart the computer and the system will be recovered to the selected recovery point instantly.

‧ Great protection: Protect the hard drive from harmful activities or improper operation through booting from C drive such as deleting files, formatting hard drive, and etc. In just a reboot, the protected partitions will be recovered to the state of an appointed recovery point.

‧ Slight loading: After SysReturn’s drivers are installed, its kernel computing hardly affects the performance of the operating system.

‧ Hard drive is under complete protection. All hard drive activities are monitored from the fundamental of Windows system. Whenever any data is updated in the hard drive, the update data is backed up in real time.

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Settings

Recovery mode

Three recovery modes are available under both DOS mode and Windows mode: (Action taken automatically upon every system bootup.)

(1) Auto Recover: System is automatically recovered every time when it boots up. (Suitable for public computers in computer lab, Internet café, etc.)

(2) Auto Reserve (No Recover): System keeps the current hard drive state and is not recovered every time when it boots up. (Suitable for home users.)

(3) Time Recover: System automatically recovers every a certain amount of days.

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CMOS protection

‧ This feature protects the CMOS setting. Whenever CMOS setting is changed, it can be automatically restored to its original.

‧ Three types of CMOS protection available under DOS mode and Windows mode:

(1) No protection

(2) Automatic protection

If a hard drive parameter in CMOS is changed, it will automatically be recovered to the original CMOS setting.

(3) Manual protection

If a CMOS setting is changed, a dialog will pop up in the next system boot to offer users three options: Recover, Save and Ignore. (If you select Ignore, system will NOT prompt a warning in the future whenever this particular setting is changed again.)

‧ CMOS protection feature may fail due to incompatibility with some motherboards.

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Password protection

‧ Due to security concerns, all operations for system recovery require entering the password to access the user interface so that malicious man-made damages can be avoided.

‧ Change password: The administrator is required to enter the old password and then the new password in order to change the password setting for system access.

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User authority

‧ System built-in “Admin” is the super administrator that possesses the greatest authority. Admin is empowered to create multiple user accounts and set different authority for each. This can prevent shared computers from system failure caused by improper operation.

‧ Available user authority items include “One-Time No Recovery”, “Recovery”, “Create Recovery Point”, “Settings”, “Folder Manager”, “Product Upgrade”, “Network Configuration”, “Set Console Address”, etc.

‧ Admin is empowered to authorize other user accounts to change the password as well as suspect other user accounts.

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Low disk space alert

Able to set a warning point for low free space in protected partitions. System monitors the usage status of hard disk all the time. Whenever the available disk space falls under a certain percentage, the system will pop up a warning message to remind the administrator to release more space through the following two methods:

(1) Update “primary recovery point”.

(2) Delete “dynamic recovery point” which is no longer used.

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Automatic detection & action

Detect any change of the current system and trigger a preset action corresponding to it.

‧ Automatically detect changes-- System can automatically detect the following changes:

(1) A new Windows update is installed.

(2) A new application program is installed under Windows.

(3) The appointed file or folder has been modified.

‧ Preset corresponding action-- When a change is detected, trigger one of the following preset actions:

(1) Prompt a warning to users.

(2) Automatically create a “dynamic recovery point” at the next boot up.

(3) Immediately create a “dynamic recovery point” to save the current hard drive state.

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Network parameter

Able to set the local computer name, IP, gateway and DNS.

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Communication with Console

‧ Set the port for communication with Console: To firm up network security, SysReturn uses one port only.

‧ Set the IP address and DNS of the Console for communication. Support setting multiple Consoles.

‧ If multiple Consoles have been set, Client will automatically log in the one which responds first.

‧ Console can be addressed by computer name (valid only for LAN), IP address or DNS.

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“Microsoft Update” server setting

Able to set the location of the update server (WSUS server) for “Microsoft Update” during installation.

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System Recovery

Hard drive protection types

‧ During installation, the administrator can self define the partitions to be protected. They can select one of the following hard drive protection types according to their needs:

(1) Protect system partition (C:) only

(2) Protect all partitions

(3) Protect system partition (C:) and any other selected partitions.

‧ During installation, the administrator is allowed to select the partition(s) to be protected. This makes flexible protection feature for the system. The administrator is strongly recommended to protect the system partition of the first physical hard disk.

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Primary recovery point

(1) Establishment

When the administrator sets up SysReturn under Windows, it requires a reboot to complete the installation. The Windows environment right before the reboot is the state of the “primary recovery point”.

(2) Update

‧ After SysReturn is installed, the administrator can update the “primary recovery point” by the following two methods:

(a) Save the current hard disk state or any existing “dynamic recovery point” as the “primary recovery point” under DOS mode.

(b) System recovers to the state of any existing recovery point and switches to Install Mode. After that, the “primary recovery point” is updated.

‧ All dynamic recovery points will be permanently deleted at the time when the primary recovery point is updated.

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Dynamic recovery point

(1) Save

‧ Create “dynamic recovery point”: The administrator can save the current state of the system as a new “dynamic recovery point”.

‧ The administrator can input some information including created time, date, and description for each new “dynamic recovery point”. The information can be displayed in various languages under Windows. But under DOS, it can be displayed or input in English only.

‧ Support up to 29 “dynamic recovery points”. When the maximum number of recovery points is reached and the administrator continues creating a new point, the system will automatically replace the oldest one.

(2) Add automatically

Automatically create a new recovery point after:

(a) New Windows updates are installed.

(b) A new application program is installed.

(c) The appointed file or folder is modified.

(d) SysReturn is upgraded.

(3) Delete

The administrator can delete any “dynamic recovery point” except the “primary recovery point” to release disk space. For those data which will be no longer used, the administrator can delete the corresponding recovery point.

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Recovery

‧ The administrator can switch the hard disk state back and forth between different existing recovery points; which means the administrator can recover the system to any “dynamic recovery point” or the “primary recovery point”.

‧ The administrator can switch the hard disk state between different recovery points. This operation will neither affect other points nor make them disappear.

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One-time no recovery (Reserve)

‧ Executing “One-time no recovery” will keep the current hard disk state and restart the PC. After reboot, the hard disk will pick up from the last state. (No recovery is performed.)

‧ “One-time no recovery” function is effective only when system is in “Auto Recover” mode which automatically recovers the system at each boot. Executing “One-time no recovery” function will have the system excepted from automatic recovery only at the next boot.

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Install Mode

‧ When the administrator needs to add or modify a large amount of data and confirm that other existing recovery points will no longer be used, it is recommended to execute “Install Mode” to save the operation time of updating the primary recovery point.

‧ Executing “Install Mode” will temporarily disable the protection of system recovery in order to facilely add or modify a large amount of data without uninstalling SysReturn. When data update is complete, the present hard disk state will be saved as the “primary recovery point”. (All the other dynamic recovery points will be automatically deleted.)

‧ Hard disk is temporarily unprotected in Install Mode. Since all updates will be written to hard disk and not undoable, the administrator must do all the operations in Install Mode with caution.

‧ Option to either save the current hard disk state or recover to the state of a particular recovery point prior to entering Install Mode.

‧ Two methods to exit “Install Mode”:

(1) Exit manually (Default)

The administrator can manually have the system exit Install Mode

(2) Exit automatically

The administrator can set the system to automatically exit Install Mode after reboot. This can prevent the system from being unprotected due to human carelessness.

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Resume feature

When saving the current state as the “primary recovery point”, a large amount of data in hard disk is transferred. Data could be lost due to purposeful termination, unexpected power off or irregular shutdown. With the Resume feature, SysReturn will automatically pick up from where it left off after reboot and continue the unfinished work. No data will be lost.

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Data Security

Folder synchronization

‧ Set automatic file or folder synchronization between two folders for backup purpose. The administrator can define the conditions for automatic synchronization according to their operation or need. System provides three modes to trigger “Folder Synchronization”:

(1) Automatically trigger synchronization when a USB drive is connected.

(2) Time synchronization: Automatically trigger synchronization at a scheduled time.

(3) Automatically trigger synchronization when any file or folder is updated.

‧ Able to set multiple folder/file synchronization tasks. Each task can be named so that it can be easily managed.

‧ Support simplex and duplex synchronization between “source file” and “destination file”.

‧ Option to whether apply synchronization setting to sub-folders.

‧ Define inclusions and exclusions for synchronized file types

(1) “Folder Synchronization” allows setting inclusions for file types. E.g. Set to synchronize *.doc files only.

(2) “Folder Synchronization” allows setting exclusions for file types.

E.g. Set to synchronize all types of files except *.doc and *.xls.

‧ Able to make a separate synchronization policy for the three file operations: Add, Delete and Rename.

‧ System can automatically back up the “source file” while running “Folder Synchronization”.

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Non-recovered folder

‧ Reserve space for non-recovered folders: Set the reserved space for “non-recovered folders” during installation.

‧ All data in protected partitions will be restored to a previous state after executing Recover command. But with the “non-recovered folders” function of SysReturn, the administrator can define which files or folders are non-recovered and will remain as is after recovered.

‧ Changes to non-recovered folders or files are synchronized among different recovery points.

‧ Folders and files in “non-recovered folders” will be kept and saved after SysReturn is removed.

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Lock folder

This feature is to lock particular folders from being accessed. The administrator needs enter a password in order to access the locked folders. This feature can protect data from being accessed by unauthorized users.

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Application Tool

Multiple boot utility

‧ Offers a multiple-boot utility which can split a hard drive into multiple partitions and each partition can be used to install a different OS. Maximum support 30 partitions for 30 independent operating systems.

‧ Supported operating systems: Windows 2003 Server, Windows XP 32-bit and Windows Vista 32-bit

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Backup management

‧ The administrator can directly execute “NetCopy” function without a boot disk.

‧ Local hard disk copy: Support hard drive cloning on the same local machine. Copy from a hard drive to maximum three others at the same time.

[Note]: Network version support “NetCopy” function.

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Able to change settings such as computer name, IP, DNS, etc. under Windows.

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DOS command

Support DOS commands for user’s operation.

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Request support

Clients can inform the console of any problem and request assistance from the console.

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Local Properties

Information of protected partitions

Display “recovery point” details:

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Information of non-recovered data

Display the usage status of the hard disk space reserved for “non-recovered file/folder”:

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Hard drive status

Display the usage status of each partition:

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