File system write filters are provided which can selectively permit or prevent data from being written-protected storage media. The write filter utilized volatile cache memory to store data that is requested to be written to storage media by applications programming interface function calls. In one aspect, if the particular data is requested to be written to a file that is a file identified on the file exclusion list, the data can be written to the file in non-volatile storage. Otherwise, the particular data is written to volatile cache memory. In another aspect, the write filters can be utilized on computing devices to create a stateless computing device wherein data is written to volatile cache memory in response to write function calls. Upon rebooting, any data that was saved to the volatile cache memory is discarded and the computing device is restored to its original state.