Norton Go-Back Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ann Meffert
  • Start date Start date
Ann,

Just a word of advice. If you back away from every software program that
has some bad reviews, you'll have a bare pc. And you have to remember that
the most vocal people are the ones who had a bad experience. But usually
they didn't bother to tell you the other factors or circumstances that had
nothing to do with the software. Just my two cents worth.

Dave
 
Thanks again, guys. Dave, I hear what you're saying. Like so many other
computer users, I've been down a really long road of computer crashes,
hours/days/weeks on the phone, in the cue, explaining, installing,
reinstalling, documenting problems. I've had Compaqs, IBM Aptivas, NEC,
Sony, IBM ThinkPad, Gateway, and the Dell that I've had for the past 3
years. As a novice, I bought software that was supposed to sweep away files
that were leftover after software was removed, fix-it utilities, etc.etc.
I've had excellent luck with Norton AntiVirus. I feel comfortable with it,
but NAV6 is a different creature. Much more controlling and invasive than
ver. 3,4 or 5. But, I guess I'll get used to it. It just won't let up on
reminding me to uncheck allowing Microsoft to Update Automatically. I like
to have the updates downloaded and then choose which ones I want to install.
Anyway, after reading so many nightmares about Go-Back, I don't think I am
ready to brave it.
 
Bert Kinney said:
Hi Ann,

System Restore is a reliable utility. Like any peace of software it is not
prefect.

Here are some tips on keeping System Restore healthy.
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/healthy.html

Description of System Restore
http://bertk.mvps.org/html/description.html
Click to expand...
snip

Bert: you express an opinion not a fact. System Restore is not reliable as
many will attest. Further its concept is flawed as every Restore Point is
dependent upon the preceding Restore Point. A failure of the utility will
result in the loss of all Restore Points due to this dependency. A far
better utility is ERUNT, perhaps it is not identical to System Restore but
it is close enough, it provides a backup for the Registry, SFC looks after
the rest. As you are aware each ERUNT session is standalone so a
fault/error in one does not affect others.
 
I couldn't agree more! Every time I've needed to rely on System Restore,
it hasn't worked. And recently I started using ERUNT to back up my
registry. It's easy and reliable. But I also have used GoBack for a few
years and it's saved my butt numerous times.
 
Edward, the fact is I have help many folks sort out problems with System
Restore in these newsgroups. You have not. I would suggest putting more
energy into actually helping people rather than bashing the product.
 
I hate to jump in on this but help me understand something that has happened
to me in the past. System Restore seems to be working fine. I can make
restore points and restore to them fine. Then when I have a problem and
try to revert to one of the available restore points and every one comes
back saying it can't be restored. When I disable System Restore and
re-enable it, then it's working again. But it's too late to help me.
What problem can be sorted out to make this not happen?
 
I guess the old memory is going, it happens :) What I recall, incorrectly
or otherwise, goes back to the release of Win Me when the System Restore
first appeared. I thought I read some articles which mentioned that it was
a stripped down version of GoBack, published by Roxio at that time I think,
and that MS licensed the code from them. Don't know how I came up with that
one! Perhaps someday it will all come back top me.
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with your memory. I read the same thing when XP first came
out. That's not to say things haven't changed considerably since then! : -)[/QUOTE]
 
Ann said:
Well, this certainly scares me. I bought NAV 6 and loaded it. Works
fine. Been using NAV for years. But, haven't loaded Go-Back yet. Does
anyone else have any good or bad experiences with Go-Back? Wondering
if I should avoid it all together, but I did pay for it as part of
the Staples Exclusive software package that had the two bound
together. I am eligible for a rebate, but hate to waste software if
it is good. I am concerned that you can't get to Windows without
having Go-Back load first. I presume your Go-Back worked fine before
the power disruption.
Click to expand...

Go Back works very well when it works. It does alter the partition table and
the master boot record of your hard drive. Becuase of these alterations if
something goes wrong with GoBack you will have to do a clean install of XP
deleting the partition table. Fortunately it doesn't go wrong very often.
There is risk to using it but there is a risk to turning on your computer as
well. I personally don't use it or recommend it because I have seen
computers where it went wrong. The customer had assumed they didn't need
backups because if anything went wrong they could always "go back". This
false sense of security is why I don't recommend it. You would be much
better off purchasing an external hard drive and a disk imaging program like
Acronis True Image or Norton Ghost or any of many other disk imaging
programs.

Kerry
 
GoBack and a disk imaging program are two different things for two different
purposes. I agree that some wrongly assume because they have GoBack they
don't need backups. But GoBack working well with a daily incremental
backup by something like Ghost is a very good combination. I've gone one
step further and use SyncToy to automatically copy my commonly used files
(My Docs, Quicken data etc) to another drive hourly.
 
Dave said:
GoBack and a disk imaging program are two different things for two
different purposes. I agree that some wrongly assume because they
have GoBack they don't need backups. But GoBack working well with a
daily incremental backup by something like Ghost is a very good
combination. I've gone one step further and use SyncToy to
automatically copy my commonly used files (My Docs, Quicken data etc)
to another drive hourly.
Click to expand...

I realise they are totally different products but if you do regular imaging
the disk space that GoBack uses can be better used for other things. If you
have ever tried to repair a computer with GoBack on it when GoBack has
become corrupted you will become very leery of ever using it again.

SyncToy is excellent for backing up photos, mp3's, documents, etc. I use it
to keep backup crucial data onto a network server. SyncToy to another
computer on a network combined with disk imaging to an external drive is an
excellent backup system. I see no need for GoBack with this system. Even
with today's cheap, large hard drives, disk space is always in short supply.
GoBack is very convenient but it does use a lot of space and can cause major
problems if it gets corrupted.

Kerry
 
Basically I agree with you. But I like GoBack, have used it for years and
never had it corrupt. It's saved me several times like upgrading a driver
or installing software and wanting to undo it. My Ghost image might be as
old as 24 hours. With GoBack, daily Ghost incrementals and hourly SyncToy
copying, I've been able to recover from anything that's happened and not
lose a thing.
 
That's exactly what it is, you are smarter than the rest of us and clearly
me in particular.
Click to expand...

You don't seem very dumb to me. You're able to diagnose
someone's computer problem from hundreds of miles away, after reading
only a few sentences about it. I'm impressed.
As
a question to a smart Guy, if you know the answer what was the post for?
Click to expand...

I never said that I knew the answer. Learn to read. I was
simply sharing with someone what happened to me. That's what Usenet
is for.
Secondly, if a 'lights out' situation causes computers with GoBack installed
to damage the installation, as you allege, why isn't this common knowledge?
Click to expand...

Your lack of knowledge of something doesn't prove that it
doesn't exist. Try deflating your ego.
Conclusion: your situation is/was unique and was not caused by GoBack,
however GoBack may well have been damaged during the 'lights out' event.
Click to expand...

Yep. And, as the guy at my computer shop (who has fixed my
computers since the DOS days) told me, when GoBack gets damaged like
mine was, you have to format the hard drive and reload Windows.
As
I understand it some GoBack code resides in the MBR and it is possible that
the MBR was damaged during the event. Your problem might easily have been
solved by repairing the MBR. Did you try this?
Click to expand...

Nope. I don't work on computers. I pay someone else to do
it.
 
That's a good idea, Kerry. I've been looking at external hard drives. Are
there any Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde aspects to Ghost also?
 
Ann said:
That's a good idea, Kerry. I've been looking at external hard drives.
Are there any Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde aspects to Ghost also?
Click to expand...

Ghost is a Norton product. Norton has a bad reputaion for bloated products
and very poor customer support. Fortunately Norton is not the original
developer of Ghost. It is starting to bloat up since they bought it but it's
still a good program. Personally I use Acronis True Image. Both have slight
advantages and disadvantages. It comes down to personal preference. Bootit
Next Generation from Terrabyte Unlimited also has a good reputation. I have
never used it.

Don't let my bad experience with GoBack sour you. If you have another backup
method it can be a very convenient program if you do a lot of experimenting
with your computer. If something goes wrong you always have a different
backup to fall back on. If your setup is fairly static then I wouldn't
bother with it.

Kerry
 
If I buy a backup hard drive, I might experiment with Go-Back just to see
how it performs. Still, the idea of having to spend any unnecessary time
getting a functioning computer back to normal because a software program
kills it just lacks appeal for me.
 

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