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Most people who use PCs know the sinking feeling when Windows refuses to start. I remember it happening to me on an ageing 486 machine, when a blue screen of death resulted in many files in the Windows folder becoming lost or garbled. When something like this happens, you may find re-installing the operating system from scratch is the only way of getting your PC back to a fully working state. You might have a backup, but what good is that if you can't boot the system to run the restore program?
IT staff face situations like this on a regular basis, as there are many ways in which innocent users can trash Windows accidentally. It does not help that Microsoft decided to put all the vital system-configuration settings into one single data structure (the Registry), which if deleted or corrupted will instantly render a machine virtually useless.
IT managers are therefore likely to welcome the recent announcement of recovery tools that will be built into many PC systems.
The development comes from Bios firm Phoenix Technologies and its Core Managed Environment (CME). As we reported last week, CME builds on firmware capabilities in the motherboard, and provides a pre-boot execution environment that lets some tools and applications run even if Windows won't start.
Tools that Phoenix has developed to run within CME include hardware diagnostic checks and a program to restore Windows from the original disk image the system was issued with. There's also a self-contained Web browser that will let staff access the Internet even if they can't boot into Windows.
Phoenix is promoting CME as a way for PC vendors to add value and differentiate products from those of rivals, but there is greater potential. If the environment could be tied in with management tools, it could really save a lot of legwork for IT departments in large firms.
Imagine a CME-based management client with which an administrator could remotely take control of a downed machine and perform any necessary actions to re-instate Windows. Reverting to the original install image may still be the only easy solution, but the facility to run diagnostics remotely would save IT staff from having to visit the ailing machine in person. At some firms a callout may involve a trip to a remote site, perhaps in another town.
The drawback is that CME can't be retrofitted to current systems, so firms would have to replace existing desktops and laptops to take advantage of it. But since Phoenix claims its Bios firmware is in over 80 percent of PC systems sold worldwide, CME support is likely to infiltrate most corporate machines as older boxes near the end of their life cycle.
According to Phoenix, IBM will use CME in its Client Rescue and Recovery feature, which is likely to be linked with IBM's Tivoli management tools, so the scenario isn't as far off as some observers might expect.
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