No nostalgia to be had with software that was already terrible in the early 2000s. Switched to debian basically as soon as my parents gave me my own computer
When I took an accounting class, we had Windows XP machines with a program called Deep Freeze. Basically, the admin would set up the PC, then enable the program to 'freeze' it in it's current state, similar to SteadyState. The problem was the IT guy installed Office and whatever programs but didn't run the initial setup, so we were forced to go through the initial setup each and ever time. Eventually the IT guy updated the PCs to stop this, but he left the Deep Freeze unlock tool on my PC. Safe to say I found it. With my new found power, I remembered that great power, came great responsibility. So I made sure to install Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 and C&C: Red Alert 2 on most of the PCs in the back. 🤣
@@septum_funksome people learn better when they have chaos and anarchy on the mind. Sure they may cause unprecedented damage but if it works effectively, it works.
I had no idea Microsoft offered their own solution for internet cafes. The only kind of internet cafe software I've seen irl was something clearly third-party. It definitely replaced the desktop with its own menu system, iirc it also removed the taskbar, and allowed remote management over the network. So when you paid at the counter, the admin would remotely activate a machine for you, and it would automatically deactivate and reset once your time is up. It would also display warnings when your time was about to run out.
In my country (Indonesia), the most popular internet cafe management software back then was one that has a dolphin image in the login screen, I still remember it after many years, it's called "Billing Explorer"
I think it's really more for public access computers than internet cafes - unless your internet cafe only allowed for one-hour sessions, you'd need to log in as administrator on each machine and manually set the session time.
@@maciejstachowski183 or they can build the system on one test computer, then deploy os images to all other identically configured computers users would use. Symantec Ghost as a prime example of tools in Windows XP era used to deploy system images using their own GHO format.
Fun terminology time! That “book database” you refer to is called an OPAC, or Online Public Access Catalogue. It’s usually provided as part of an ILS (Integrated Library System). Free examples include Koha and Evergreen.
In the late 2000's I used to go to brussels net cafés. Most computers were using a pirated version of Windows XP, some clearly filled with malware. All computer would be different (they mostly used spare parts). You definitely wouldn't want to do anything serious on there (eg: plug a USB key or login to some website). On the bright side, it was extremely cheap (eg: you would pay 1 EUR / hour or something like that)
I work in a place with public PCs and we use a version for Windows 10. It's no longer maintained, but it still works. I'm not sure if it works for Win 11.
That SoundMax pop-up was a real pain in the butt back in the day, everyone you connected something it came up, thankfully he put it on the block list so that it doesn't... Oh, wait... 😂
I use to work in a Computer repair shop. We had an internet cafe with 6 PCs - the PCs ran windows XP for years and used windows Steady - it worked so well. However it didn’t work with windows 10, so I used Reboot Restore Rx, which worked just as well.
@woogy110 Not really, Back then i thought these just run Ordinary Windows XP with softwares installed for the admin to control how much time does the user can have or to shut it down remotely. Nowadays the cafes runs them with Windows Server 2016 with a use of Network Boot.
I remember my library's PCs had something like this back in the 2000s and 2010s. They actually had the computers set up where I could go to any website that I wanted to and download whatever I needed to (until the time limit of course). Another difference is that they customized the login screen and actually required you to put your library card number in to login but otherwise using their computers was really similar to this! I was wondering how they did it and this video definitely answered my question! 😉💻👌
Back when I worked for a college we used a bit of software called Deepfreeze to do something similar for all the lab computers, had no idea that MS did their own tool for it. Fun!
I remember that in school in the 2000s, I had a registry file that disabled all the settings the IT admin had put on the computers. I had my own for a while, but because I became friends with him, he gave me his. He said, "You know how to do everything this does, so here's mine." Sometime later, when my friend told the school district to shove it, I had my computer with me to play games while I worked in the tech center, and using FTP to a game server, the school router would crash, and that time I couldn't power cycle it so I lost my job in the tech center despite finding a major problem.
Hey, at least you lost your tech desk job for a _good_ reason. I lost my college tech desk job because on my late-night shift (the tech desk was also located in the library) when there was an internet outage at one of the dorms and they called in for help I loudly asked the library patrons using the computers if their internet was still working rather than walking up to them and quietly asking them.
I was the kid too smart for his own good who went around all the safeties using command prompt so he could download tits. Slowly. -.- Now that was an interesting conversation with the principle...
Gosh this video just makes me miss xp more ;w; Cool look into what i assume my local library was using when i was in middle - high school and all of my harebrained attempts to break it lol :p Great video !!
I always loved messing around with restricted systems as a kid and trying to tickle out the weaknesses. My fav thing to do, was to log in to the hidden admin account and using net user, to change the password of the default account 😂 I was a rascal 😁
P.s I love your videos as always And I always loved the Windows bootleg installers so one day I might be making my own You can install it on a VM or whatever you like
15:45 I laughed out loud for some reason when I saw your "TalkingTucanSam" and other cereal folders still on the C:/ from your last video. Love your videos.
You couldn't delete the cache file because NTOSKRNL was using it- SteadyState (like the rest of its kind) installs a driver to do it's work, that way you can't remove mission-critical files (to the software package) while Windows is booted. This also explains how it knows about half of the things you're doing, and can force you out of the user profile.
If anyone can help me with it that would be amazing. This video reminded me that I can't remember the name of some software used in PC cafes in my country back during the XP days. All I remember is that the client interface was a solid blue background (I think) and in the middle was two panels sliding each to its side (like a double-sided supermarket sensor door) to reveal a list of games in the middle. I just remember it being very XP styled. It was in EVERY PC cafe in our town, and probably even the country back in the 2000s.
@@MichaelMJD also I had a tiny idea, since Nintendo has its various homebrews, is there any way you could put a Linux distro or a windows simulator on it? Ofcourse mid edition lol
Make me feels nostaligic about those net cafes around me at the time Vietnam got it's first internet provider, which they uses Yahoo Messenger to chat, and at that time, most of those place uses an software known as "G-Cafe" to do the same as this software does... It's been a while now...
I think this is the first MJD video I watched where everything goes "wrong" because Michael failed to screw up something that actually worked fine 😂. This tool is pretty neat, Microsoft did a good job making it near completely foolproof, besides being fairly easy to configure. I wonder if there's a modern equivalent utility for Windows 10/11?
3 месяца назад
Back in school we had PCI cards that messed with how partitions where accessed to protect a PC from any changes. They where remotely manageable and had to be disabled and rebooted to make any changes. The product was "PC Wächter" from Dr. Kaiser, now IST.
3 месяца назад
I never really looked into how they worked back then...would be an interesting thing to check out.
9:01 Modifying this text would have been definitely useful, another use case would be using this in another country where you might change it to another language.
College I work IT for uses a modern implementation of this technology called Faronics Deepfreeze for all the student facing workstations and laptops. It’s a real pita when a cart of laptops wasn’t properly set in bios to turn on one night a week to check in and run SCCM so we have 24 laptops that end up unfreezing their hard drive and falling behind in updates.
I remember installing a cracked version of Deepfreeze which came with some kind of malware that did not allow you to disable the system restoration feature after each reset so it ruined my windows install and I had to setup everything again.
I would visit some internet cafe's when travelling in Asia as a teenager. By the time I was done updating the browser ect, the time was almost up. Then I had to do the same process all over again the next day. 💀
MJD, where can i find another power supply brick. I just bought a pair of the exact same desktop Speakers you have but can't find a supply that will fit the weirdly deep slot.
I remember a system for Linux (maybe Windows too) that came before the operating system and would boot the OS from a read-only disk image. Open source and promoted for libraries but I can't remember the name.
Also what would banter cool thing to see if we could break net cafe is if you put it on the max restricted settings but allow command prompt,clog into your personal, and delete the Netcafe application while logged into it, as I would want to see what would happen
Maybe you could try doing a video on WinFS Beta 1 for Windows XP? There's a lot of WinFS development programs and documentation in that not included in Longhorn.
This reminds me a lot of the program we used at a college I worked at. I. The labs we had something installed called deep freeze and it would not allow users to write changes to the disk.
i did not knew microsoft actually made software for that, on my country NetCafes are still something really common and they use a program called CyberControl or something like that.
How did you do the floppy wall? 99 floppy disks on the way .... Take one down pass it around all of them fell because a house of floppies aren't stable enough
Was there anything like this for older systems like ME/2000 or 98? Or were those too early for the concept of internet cafes to really be a widespread thing?
Could this be used to stop any ransom attacks? Letting my mind run free if they cache cannot be deleted. Or will cyber software always managed to attach and delete files on a PC?
I'd love to see a cafe with these all connected the internet at the same time so we could watch them get knocked offline one-by-one over the next few minutes.
I used to go on netcafé in late 1990s 'till mid 2000s to play games and do 5v5 LAN parties on Counter Strike 1.2~1.6 until I switched to Battlefield 1942 + GTA games, while the rest of my folks prefer to play DOTA then Ragnarok Online... 😅
It's not surprising that you couldn't delete the cache file, I think. It's probably kept perpetually opened by the file system driver or some other core system service that you can't usefully terminate without crashing the system.
Hmm, what if the cache file is storing the temporary changes, not the steady state. So, deleting it would just delete your changes and revert the system (or most likely crash it, leaving it fine on reboot). This would also explain why the message at boot about copying changes happened when you committed changes - it copied them out of the cache file into the real FS.
It wouldn't be an MJD video if even deleting files wouldn't go wrong
We may see a day where shit don't go wrong in a MJD video
@@mihoub we will never see that
ever
Netcafe, it's pretty rare where I live.
You have a better chance at a library.
I agree
Facts
4:3 monitor with Windows XP looks so nostalgic.
No nostalgia to be had with software that was already terrible in the early 2000s. Switched to debian basically as soon as my parents gave me my own computer
@@nilswegner2881bet you're very funny on parties
Wah wahh wahhhh get off the video about windows if all you're gonna do is cry about it @@nilswegner2881
4:3 forever thoooo :p
@@nilswegner2881what the hell are you talking about? lol
When I took an accounting class, we had Windows XP machines with a program called Deep Freeze. Basically, the admin would set up the PC, then enable the program to 'freeze' it in it's current state, similar to SteadyState. The problem was the IT guy installed Office and whatever programs but didn't run the initial setup, so we were forced to go through the initial setup each and ever time.
Eventually the IT guy updated the PCs to stop this, but he left the Deep Freeze unlock tool on my PC. Safe to say I found it. With my new found power, I remembered that great power, came great responsibility. So I made sure to install Unreal Tournament, Quake 3 and C&C: Red Alert 2 on most of the PCs in the back. 🤣
to this day kids are still doing the same thing in my IT class with Halo CE
We have that in our class!
@@septum_funksome people learn better when they have chaos and anarchy on the mind. Sure they may cause unprecedented damage but if it works effectively, it works.
I had no idea Microsoft offered their own solution for internet cafes. The only kind of internet cafe software I've seen irl was something clearly third-party. It definitely replaced the desktop with its own menu system, iirc it also removed the taskbar, and allowed remote management over the network. So when you paid at the counter, the admin would remotely activate a machine for you, and it would automatically deactivate and reset once your time is up. It would also display warnings when your time was about to run out.
In my country (Indonesia), the most popular internet cafe management software back then was one that has a dolphin image in the login screen, I still remember it after many years, it's called "Billing Explorer"
I think it's really more for public access computers than internet cafes - unless your internet cafe only allowed for one-hour sessions, you'd need to log in as administrator on each machine and manually set the session time.
I remember hacking these things a lot just before they were all removed, specifically the ones in open public
@@maciejstachowski183 or they can build the system on one test computer, then deploy os images to all other identically configured computers users would use. Symantec Ghost as a prime example of tools in Windows XP era used to deploy system images using their own GHO format.
Fun terminology time! That “book database” you refer to is called an OPAC, or Online Public Access Catalogue. It’s usually provided as part of an ILS (Integrated Library System). Free examples include Koha and Evergreen.
In the late 2000's I used to go to brussels net cafés. Most computers were using a pirated version of Windows XP, some clearly filled with malware. All computer would be different (they mostly used spare parts). You definitely wouldn't want to do anything serious on there (eg: plug a USB key or login to some website). On the bright side, it was extremely cheap (eg: you would pay 1 EUR / hour or something like that)
more like 20-30 cents per hours in poorer countries
Really want to watch SteadyState running on a Vista after watching this. This video is lit 🔥🔥
It is indeed lit, RUclipsrs know how important lighting is for their videos 😊
@@SproutyPottedPlant stop it funny person u made me laugh x.x
Windows 7 didn't need steadystate because Windows 7 Educational Edition existed
Damn, That Time remaining countdown box is giving me Elementary School Flash Backs from using the public Library computers.
Mississauga Central public library and Toronto City hall library vibes for me…
This is extremely intriguing! I wonder if there's anything similar for Windows 11
Deep freeze is a paid software that does the same thing in newer windows versions
@@allensmithphotographyThere’s a Windows 10/11 version that I saw that has been designed for devices like these but I don’t think it got canceled
I work in a place with public PCs and we use a version for Windows 10. It's no longer maintained, but it still works. I'm not sure if it works for Win 11.
Yes there is! Under Win10 + Win11 you can use "assigned-access". Its basicly the same, but without a fancy GUI. You have to use Powershell scripts.
Look for the UWF feature, it will protect the drive aswell
Another great video MJD! I love learning about these old software's Microsoft released. Very informative!
That SoundMax pop-up was a real pain in the butt back in the day, everyone you connected something it came up, thankfully he put it on the block list so that it doesn't... Oh, wait... 😂
Man i can Watch MJDs videos everyday, after work i turn on my TV, turn on RUclips and run MJDs videos all day in the background
Way better than installing the Deep Freeze app, good video!
I use to work in a Computer repair shop. We had an internet cafe with 6 PCs - the PCs ran windows XP for years and used windows Steady - it worked so well.
However it didn’t work with windows 10, so I used Reboot Restore Rx, which worked just as well.
Let me guess... Password is mjd. Or is it MJD? Probably mjd.
Hmm 🤔
😂
Strong and secure password
@@MichaelMJDmjd isn’t it
I was thinking 123 but mjd sounds probable
i've been watching your content for years, keep up the good work
NetCafè, bruh that kinda sounds like a Coffee brand named "Nescafè"
nescafe reminds me of the NES by nintendo
@@DccToon NES-cafe. Would sound good
sounds intentional
@@rotatingcat1957 true
@woogy110 Not really, Back then i thought these just run Ordinary Windows XP with softwares installed for the admin to control how much time does the user can have or to shut it down remotely.
Nowadays the cafes runs them with Windows Server 2016 with a use of Network Boot.
I remember my library's PCs had something like this back in the 2000s and 2010s. They actually had the computers set up where I could go to any website that I wanted to and download whatever I needed to (until the time limit of course). Another difference is that they customized the login screen and actually required you to put your library card number in to login but otherwise using their computers was really similar to this! I was wondering how they did it and this video definitely answered my question! 😉💻👌
My local library has the same thing but it also requires your library card pin number and they use windows 10
Back when I worked for a college we used a bit of software called Deepfreeze to do something similar for all the lab computers, had no idea that MS did their own tool for it. Fun!
I used SteadyState back in the day to setup kiosk PCs in financial institutions. Worked pretty well once you got the hang of it.
majestic video!
MJDstic video
I remember setting this software up at the library I still work at. That was a long time ago.
I remember that in school in the 2000s, I had a registry file that disabled all the settings the IT admin had put on the computers. I had my own for a while, but because I became friends with him, he gave me his. He said, "You know how to do everything this does, so here's mine." Sometime later, when my friend told the school district to shove it, I had my computer with me to play games while I worked in the tech center, and using FTP to a game server, the school router would crash, and that time I couldn't power cycle it so I lost my job in the tech center despite finding a major problem.
yup i was that dude back in the day at school also
Hey, at least you lost your tech desk job for a _good_ reason. I lost my college tech desk job because on my late-night shift (the tech desk was also located in the library) when there was an internet outage at one of the dorms and they called in for help I loudly asked the library patrons using the computers if their internet was still working rather than walking up to them and quietly asking them.
@@apolloluxPettiest reason ever for firing someone.
I was the kid too smart for his own good who went around all the safeties using command prompt so he could download tits.
Slowly. -.-
Now that was an interesting conversation with the principle...
Super interesting video, and just made me miss WinXP even more! Loved that OS for many reasons -- but mainly the look :)
That is really neat. Never knew this was a thing!
Gosh this video just makes me miss xp more ;w;
Cool look into what i assume my local library was using when i was in middle - high school and all of my harebrained attempts to break it lol :p
Great video !!
I always loved messing around with restricted systems as a kid and trying to tickle out the weaknesses. My fav thing to do, was to log in to the hidden admin account and using net user, to change the password of the default account 😂 I was a rascal 😁
Going to a netcafé to play Tibia or Mu online was a rite of passage around my parts when I was in high school. Good times!
P.s I love your videos as always
And I always loved the Windows bootleg installers so one day I might be making my own
You can install it on a VM or whatever you like
15:45 I laughed out loud for some reason when I saw your "TalkingTucanSam" and other cereal folders still on the C:/ from your last video. Love your videos.
You couldn't delete the cache file because NTOSKRNL was using it- SteadyState (like the rest of its kind) installs a driver to do it's work, that way you can't remove mission-critical files (to the software package) while Windows is booted.
This also explains how it knows about half of the things you're doing, and can force you out of the user profile.
Absolutely amazing this is always cool to find out about stuff i missed as a kid!
i have only been to an internet cafe 2 times & this was probably relaxin' in those.
I remember a number of net cafes here in the Philippines use a (presumably cracked) copy of Deep Freeze to achieve a similar result.
Nice video
Please make a video on development history of Windows Vista
He did that 8 years ago called "windows longhorn/vista history" ;-)
Such a glorious business model that was
If anyone can help me with it that would be amazing.
This video reminded me that I can't remember the name of some software used in PC cafes in my country back during the XP days.
All I remember is that the client interface was a solid blue background (I think) and in the middle was two panels sliding each to its side (like a double-sided supermarket sensor door) to reveal a list of games in the middle. I just remember it being very XP styled.
It was in EVERY PC cafe in our town, and probably even the country back in the 2000s.
Ah yes, SteadyState. I had so much fun bypassing it.
Hey! Just subscribed, just wanted to say that I love your channel and that getting these demo videos are great. Thanks for being you!
forgot to mention not subscribed, joined. Forgot this wasn't tiktok lol!
I really appreciate it, thank you!
@@MichaelMJD also I had a tiny idea, since Nintendo has its various homebrews, is there any way you could put a Linux distro or a windows simulator on it? Ofcourse mid edition lol
This was used in schools and colleges back then a lot!
Windows XP is pure nostalgia...
we as a indonesian called them "warnet". in indonesia, warnets doesn't use Windows SteadyState, but BillingExplorer.
The dolphin image in that software was very iconic tho
In argentina we use Control de Ciber, a great program
The best way to surf the information superhighway!
Make me feels nostaligic about those net cafes around me at the time Vietnam got it's first internet provider, which they uses Yahoo Messenger to chat, and at that time, most of those place uses an software known as "G-Cafe" to do the same as this software does...
It's been a while now...
Library computer nostalgia. *windows xp obee music plays*
I think this is the first MJD video I watched where everything goes "wrong" because Michael failed to screw up something that actually worked fine 😂.
This tool is pretty neat, Microsoft did a good job making it near completely foolproof, besides being fairly easy to configure. I wonder if there's a modern equivalent utility for Windows 10/11?
Back in school we had PCI cards that messed with how partitions where accessed to protect a PC from any changes. They where remotely manageable and had to be disabled and rebooted to make any changes. The product was "PC Wächter" from Dr. Kaiser, now IST.
I never really looked into how they worked back then...would be an interesting thing to check out.
I remember use Windows SteadyState software internet cafe, school & libraries in 2000s worldwide to setup
Can't wait for the MJD NetCafe
This guy should make an archive of everything he does.
I remember a program called DeepFreeze which did similar things - we had that in high school back in the late 90's on WIndows 95/98 machines.
9:01 Modifying this text would have been definitely useful, another use case would be using this in another country where you might change it to another language.
MJ i love your vids!
same
I've had ssd's do this for me when they developed short term memory loss (would fill up the cache but not write to flash
College I work IT for uses a modern implementation of this technology called Faronics Deepfreeze for all the student facing workstations and laptops. It’s a real pita when a cart of laptops wasn’t properly set in bios to turn on one night a week to check in and run SCCM so we have 24 laptops that end up unfreezing their hard drive and falling behind in updates.
I remember installing a cracked version of Deepfreeze which came with some kind of malware that did not allow you to disable the system restoration feature after each reset so it ruined my windows install and I had to setup everything again.
I would visit some internet cafe's when travelling in Asia as a teenager. By the time I was done updating the browser ect, the time was almost up. Then I had to do the same process all over again the next day. 💀
Imagine setting up 70 of these
This Windows X.P. was probably very tranquil and explore in internet cafes.
Is there a Net Cafe version for current Windows? I would like to know it.
MJD, where can i find another power supply brick. I just bought a pair of the exact same desktop Speakers you have but can't find a supply that will fit the weirdly deep slot.
So did anything come back after you restarted the PC? That's when it applies the saved cache back to C:
I remember a system for Linux (maybe Windows too) that came before the operating system and would boot the OS from a read-only disk image. Open source and promoted for libraries but I can't remember the name.
Also what would banter cool thing to see if we could break net cafe is if you put it on the max restricted settings but allow command prompt,clog into your personal, and delete the Netcafe application while logged into it, as I would want to see what would happen
peace be upon you sir
Maybe you could try doing a video on WinFS Beta 1 for Windows XP? There's a lot of WinFS development programs and documentation in that not included in Longhorn.
This reminds me a lot of the program we used at a college I worked at. I. The labs we had something installed called deep freeze and it would not allow users to write changes to the disk.
i did not knew microsoft actually made software for that, on my country NetCafes are still something really common and they use a program called CyberControl or something like that.
Can't believe you would deprive your net cafe patrons of Talking Toucan Sam like that.
perfect video to wind down to! ty!
How did you do the floppy wall? 99 floppy disks on the way .... Take one down pass it around all of them fell because a house of floppies aren't stable enough
Why didn't Microsoft put the cache file on a hidden RAM disk that is only mounted upon login to the SteadyState user account?
Any thoughts? 🤔
Can you install wanna cry and other malware on it
What monitor did you use
Was there anything like this for older systems like ME/2000 or 98? Or were those too early for the concept of internet cafes to really be a widespread thing?
XP looks so good
Could this be used to stop any ransom attacks? Letting my mind run free if they cache cannot be deleted. Or will cyber software always managed to attach and delete files on a PC?
Gosh I missed that one.
I never knew this existed
I'd love to see a cafe with these all connected the internet at the same time so we could watch them get knocked offline one-by-one over the next few minutes.
I miss the Windows XP days, both personally and the OS itself. Like Windows my life had some Service Pack upgrades.
When you said net cafe I automatically thought of GTA IV 😂😂
Does it still fully/partially work on Windows 7, 10 and or 11?
I used to go on netcafé in late 1990s 'till mid 2000s to play games and do 5v5 LAN parties on Counter Strike 1.2~1.6 until I switched to Battlefield 1942 + GTA games, while the rest of my folks prefer to play DOTA then Ragnarok Online...
😅
I used to use this on vista… was 👌👌👌👌
Ah yes! The impromptu Windows XP destruction video we didn't knew we need!
like the vid MJD :)
the true test of backwards compatabilty, try this in windows 11 please(I doubt it would work but who knows)
Randon thought on my end. I totally skipped Vista & 8. I went from XP to 7 to 10 and now 11.
I would see this used in schools on IT classrooms.
about to eat my Couscous while watching a new vid, sounds good 😂
Seeing this reminds me of the old days where they put #DeepFreeze on computers and the entire configuration was frozen...
Windows has a lot of hidden software that I didn't know their existence
You should do a video on Nextube, it isn't a nextube clock it's a Wii RUclips replacement. Not like WiiMC's Riitube it revives the whole channel.
Do you know what replaced Steady State? *Windows 7 Educational Edition.*
i ♥ floppy disk wall
It's not surprising that you couldn't delete the cache file, I think. It's probably kept perpetually opened by the file system driver or some other core system service that you can't usefully terminate without crashing the system.
But would it run on windows 10?
Hmm, what if the cache file is storing the temporary changes, not the steady state. So, deleting it would just delete your changes and revert the system (or most likely crash it, leaving it fine on reboot). This would also explain why the message at boot about copying changes happened when you committed changes - it copied them out of the cache file into the real FS.
You should try to run this program on Windows 10/11. I'm curious if it would work or not 🤔