Boomerang slams the window shut on hackers. It detects ANY changes to your computer’s C:> drive – and additional drives or partitions that you wish to protected. “Save” any changes (e.g., documents created, new desktop icon, new program installed or uninstalled, etc.) They will be there when you re-boot – don’t “Save” them, and they are gone. I’ve even deleted the entire Windows folder and the Acrobat Reader folder. I did not save the changes and when I re-booted, both were back in their original place. Absolutely no changes. It also protects your BIOS and CMOS to from unauthorized changes. It works with Windows 95/98/ME/2K/XP.

So what does this have to do with you? Let’s suppose that you have a guest who cruses the Internet. Let’s also suppose that you do too, but neither of you is especially careful about downloading “stuff” and/or you cannot resist clicking on an e-mail’s attachment! Uh oh! Now you have a virus infection at worst or at least have a spyware program that is NOW looking around your computer for passwords, credit card numbers, ad nausim. Well, duh, just reboot without “saving” anything and when your computer comes back to life – viola, no more spyware and no more virii. It is restored to its status when you first turned it on. Sounds like voodoo magic, right? I agree, but don’t ask me how it works. All you (and I) do is insert a very small card into a free PCI slot, make a few setup selections and you are in business, period.

There are two modes of “protection”: Supervisory in which nothing is protected and in which you can make changes and “save” any changes you want to. Protected mode is the status where NO changes are saved. You must take a positive action in the Supervisory mode to “save” any changes. It is simpler than these two sentences would suggest. But you MUST do them or loose everything that’s changed. Well, that last statement is not entirely correct. You have a menu that will allow changes to be “recovered” during a pre-selected time frame and not be lost; e.g., each ½ day, every 13 th re-boot, every third day, etc. Any changes made during pre-selected time frames will be saved. (Any changes on other, non-protected drives or partitions are NOT affected. Therefore, it is strongly advised that you create at least a D:> partition and save documents, etc. to that drive.)

Does Boomerang mean that you no longer need an antivirus program or one that will check for spyware or adware? No, no, no. You can still get these on your other drives or partitions, if you have them. For instance, if you have your e-mail program on other than C:> drive, and I hope you do, if a virus or spyware rides in on an e-mail or an attachment, you need to be protected.

Some typical uses:

1. Great for public computers, such as the HAL-PC labs and public libraries and home networks.

2. Hospitals that provide computers internet browsing and web based e-mail for patients and patient's family that are constantly being infected.

The learning curve is low, but you do need to think about how you want to set it up and when to SAVE your stuff. This just isn’t automatic. If this is not your cup of tea, the uninstall is straightforward and simple. Somehow, I don’t think you’ll be using this option.

Things I’d like to see:

1. Ability to “unprotect” individual folders on C:> drive

2. Schedule changes, in an “unprotected” mode, for Microsoft Updates or antivirus DAT file

3. Put a “mode” symbol in the system tray – the experimental approach to determine status is just dumb and awkward

4. A clear explanation of the actual time frame for the time intervals; i.e., when does a ½ day start? stop?

5. An easy password protected windows interface for turning on and off and a clear indication of when it was on and off.

The User Guide needs a bit of refinement, but adequate. For more info go to www.codasolutions.com.

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Charles W. Evans, et al are HAL-PC members. Contact me at reviews@hal-pc.org or wait for an executive briefing on this device.