Software Review of:
GOBACK
A utility program from Wild Fire 

The packaging is a bit unusual since it came with a really good manual, a CD movie that shows the flexibility and usefulness of GOBACK, a floppy with a couple of TIFF files of the logo and the normal CD for the program installation.  There was a well written errata sheet — a printed README file, if you will.

I watched the movie which was well done and it seemed to explain the program quite well. This overview convinced me that this software was going to be something great so I went ahead and started to install it.

I read the usual installation instructions and, since everything seemed normal, went ahead and loaded the CD. Installation went well — until after it finished loading, the computer locked up tighter than a drum. I used the three-finger salute finally (that is the infamous CONTROL-ALT-DELETE key combination to force a reboot). The reboot hung!

Suspecting that this might be a problem, I tried to delete GOBACK — and couldn’t get the computer to do anything except hang up on boot up. Even using the key of death (the off/on switch which is not really a nice thing to do to the computer) didn’t help.

I finally resorted to one of the better Windows 98SE devices and executed a safe boot which disables a lot of the features in Windows. (It also disabled my USB mouse).  I finally got to the control panel where I could uninstall GOBACK and the computer resumed its normal operation.

I used the tech support number in the panel (at my expense which tends to irritate me anyhow) and got a very knowledgeable technician after only 14 minutes of holding. He listened as I started my tale of woe and then he interrupted and asked if I was using Windows 98SE (which 90% of the world does seem to use). I said yes and he told me to go to the web site and download a 1.8 MB file to update the installation process and get me to GOBACK 2.21.

I did and the installation worked. I lost about an hour plus holding time plus paying for the call and the irritation of a known defect not being publicized.

Now that I have vented my spleen, let me talk about the program which works just fine now that I have it installed and working.

This program is supposed to be like a time machine in that it will take your computer back to a time when it was working properly or to the time just before you erased a critical file you need or to help restore an email you deleted and then discovered you really needed it.  This will restore whatever you had in the Recycle Bin even after you have emptied it.  It literally restores files that should be gone forever and it does it very simply. 

The screen shows every place that shows a system safe point is a place you can click onto and this will become right now.  Everything done since the time indicated is lost forever, so be sure you know you want to be back there. Just think - copying over a major spreadsheet instead of using “save as” can ruin your day but GOBACK will let you overcome this goof. 

When you initiate the program, you can pick and choose which option best suits your needs.  You can select from reverting the drive to a time in the past when all was working, you can change a single file back to what it was before you messed it up or even create a GOBACK drive to help mirror the important files. Each option has something like a Wizard to help you with this task.

Does this make you a bit nervous — tampering with the hard drive that way? Relax.

Part of the excellent manual walks you through a tutorial in which you delete files and make other bad moves and then shows you how to restore the drive. It really works and I was really impressed with the ease of operation once I got it installed properly.

One word of caution
If you have a hard drive that is fairly full, you might want to keep in mind that GOBACK will take about 10% of your drive to use for itself. You do have an option upon installation to specify less space using the custom installation but you really need to be aware of this.

Recent presenters to APCO have shown many of the features of GOBACK are incorporated in WinMe as well as in other programs available from utility software companies and I would recommend you not purchase GOBACK if you will be using Win Me. If you are staying with a different version of Windows, then go for it.

To conclude
Well worth the retail price of $69.95 (shopping and Ebay will beat this price). 

Try it free by downloading it from the web site and pay attention to the warnings.  Do not try to use version 2.1 with Win 98SE. 

There are other warnings in the README file such as don’t adjust system time without uninstalling the program — so please pay attention. I am happy with the program in spite of the earlier frustrations and do recommend this most especially if you have critical files that you need to protect. It is an excellent safety measure.