Utilities that effectively 'turn back time' on PC configurations can be useful. They can be used to recover from malicious damage, virus attacks, ill-advised software installation and user errors. GoBack 3 Deluxe is the latest package (we reviewed an earlier version here) to offer such continuous backup safeguards.

Like other, similar products, GoBack 3 Deluxe sets aside a portion of the hard drive in which to store its backup files. During the automatic install option, the actual amount of space to be set aside is determined by the software, and is typically around half of the available free space on the drive, but you can alter this manually.

Assuming that your PC has plenty of disk space available, GoBack 3 Deluxe will then make a backup of all files on the hard drive, storing them in compressed form. From this point on, whenever any file on the hard drive is changed, the changes are recorded by the program, along with the exact time and date of the changes.

The program inserts itself into the host PC at a low level. It loads from the Master Boot Record of the hard drive, before even boot managers such as System Commander, to ensure that all modifications, even those that occur during the boot process, are tracked. At any time, the user (or an authorised IT manager if the password feature is enabled) can revert the PC's configuration to an earlier time, even if the PC won't boot into Windows.

It is also possible, using the Advanced menu, to create a 'GoBack drive', showing the contents of the PC's drive at any chosen point in time. This is useful for recovering individual files that may have changed, rather than reverting an entire drive. A new feature is the 'auto-revert' option, which will return a drive to an earlier state automatically, either on shutdown or at a scheduled time. This could be useful for public-access PCs or shared, educational workstations.

But there are some points to consider before using GoBack 3 Deluxe. Because it attempts to track changes right from the moment of boot, using a 60KB TSR, it can conflict with multi-partition, multi-boot PCs, as it tries to track changes to the wrong partition. Use it with caution in this sort of situation.

For PCs running a single operating system, particularly shared workstations or public-access PCs, GoBack 3 Deluxe offers some appealing features that could make life easier for end-users and for IT managers. But it may not be suitable for multiple-boot configurations.