USB is currently the most popular way of connecting external devices to the computer. The majority of external storage devices, printers, scanners, audio devices with built in sound chips and other peripherals are connected via USB to the PC. You sometimes may want to prevent that other people connect USB devices to your PC, for [...]

Categories: Software, Windows

Each USB port can provide power to connected devices. This is not always necessary, especially if those devices have their own external power supply. But some devices need the power provided by the USB port to function or reload batteries. A problem with this is that USB ports can only supply a maximum of 500 [...]

Categories: Tutorials Basic, Windows

Carrying an USB-stick around with you can be beneficial in numerous situations. USB devices are for instance ideal to copy data without having to carry a larger device like a notebook or netbook around. They are also ideal for accessing portable programs on third party computer systems, nothing beats working with familiar programs on unfamiliar [...]

Categories: Security

It sometimes can be quite handy to start programs automatically when a new USB storage device is connected to the computer system. This can be an USB flash key or external hard drive. Applications that come to mind are automatic virus scans of the data on the drives or the start of True Crypt or [...]

Categories: Software, Windows

System administrators might want to limit the use of external USB flash drives by making them read only. This can actually be useful in several situations like preventing users from copying local data to the external device or preventing malicious software from spreading on a computer network using those flash drives. The Windows operating system [...]

Categories: Software, Uncategorized, Windows

System administrators do not only have to make sure that the computer systems that they administrate are protected from online threats: Local attacks are also a common threat that has to be dealt with. One prominent way of gaining access to a local computer system is by connecting external devices to the system. USB ports [...]

Categories: Software, Windows

Day 15 of the Ghacks Christmas Giveaway. We got 10 more software products for you for which we will hand out licenses. Today’s software program is special as it is the first one that can will be handed out to everyone who wants to try it. USB Safely Remove is a USB device manager that [...]

Categories: Operating Systems, Software, Windows

USB Image Tool is a lightweight portable software that can create backups of USB devices. It detects pretty much every USB device that I’m connecting to an USB port including my Apple iPod Nano. It did however not detect my mobile phone that I connected to the computer as a test. The main interface consists [...]

Categories: Software, Windows

USB devices in Windows can be configured to be optimized for quick removal or performance. If the first option is chosen it is normally no problem to simply unplug the device from the computer without removing it safely. If however the latter is chosen unplugging the device from the computer can lead to data corruption and data loss.

Categories: Operating Systems, Software, Tools, Windows