Company:
Jackson Armor
Product: Hardware OS Protection System
Reviewer: Goblin
Protection is key with today’s computers. Be it protection from the outside world or protection from the user himself, a secure computer can save a lot of frustration. The difficulty lies in the fact that with most software solutions available to the everyday user, there is always the chance of corruption since they rely on the fact that you have a functioning operating system. If the operating system is attacked or corrupted in any serious way then all the software security in the world will not do much good.
This is what makes the Jackson Armor Card unique. It acts as a recovery system for your operating system which is hardware based. So, no matter what damage is done (including an accidental formatting of the hard drive), a simple reboot will return the computer to full functioning status
Basically, the card saves an image of all your computers essential files and the operating system. This is not a standard image though. It is not one simple file which could be corrupted or erased. Rather it is an image which is spread out across the hard drive without user access. Thus helping to keep the computer safe from most malicious tampering.
The Armor Card fits into a free pci slot and ships with an installation disk. Install the card and run the disk and you will be greeted by the Armor Card’s menu the next time you boot up. If you choose to do nothing then your computer will be in “Safe Mode”. If you decide you want to configure the settings then a simple press of CTRL+HOME will take you to the configuration menu.
So here’s the deal. While I thought the Armor Card was an interesting concept and very handy for people running shops which allow the public to access their computers (Internet cafes, libraries, LAN hosts, etc) I really couldn’t see much use in this card for the average user. Also, this whole revert to the snapshot every time you reboot didn’t seem to make much sense to the average user. What happens when you install and remove files? Am I going to revert to a previous setting every time?
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