Skip to main content

Using a flash drive...

Your USB flash drive can do a whole lot more than just move data around.Transporting your data is probably the most common use for a USB flash drive. But there’s a world of other things you can do with these handy pocket-size drives. Here are some ways you can use that USB flash drive to do more than just move data.
1: Run portable applications
In addition to storing your data, you can run portable applications from a USB flash drive. For example, OpenOffice, which is a complete office suite that includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing package, and database, is available as a portable application. Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird are also available as portable applications. When you combine the office suite with the ability to surf the Web and check email, you’ll be able to take your most vital computing applications with you wherever you go — right in your pocket.
If that’s not enough, you can choose other applications to install on your USB flash drive from PortableApps.com
The PortableApps.com suite comes with a menu system to allow you to easily access your portable applications.
2: Boot an operating system
If you want to do more than just run your own applications, you might want to consider booting an entire operating system from your USB flash drive. You can boot either Windows or Linux from a USB flash drive.
.
3: Connect to a wireless network
If you have a wireless network, you can use the Wireless Network Setup Wizard in Windows XP to save wireless network configuration information to a USB flash drive. You can then use your drive to quickly and easily connect another computer or a WCN-compatible device, such as a router or printer, to your wireless network.
4: Create a password reset disk
A password reset disk can really come in handy if you forget the password to your user account on a Windows system that is not a part of a domain. If you find yourself in that situation, you can use the password reset disk to reset your password and quickly get back into your user account.
You can use your USB flash drive as a password reset disk.
5: Boost performance
If you’re running Windows Vista, you can use a USB flash drive to speed up your system with the ReadyBoost technology. ReadyBoost can use the storage space on a USB Flash drive as an additional memory cache to aid the memory cache on your hard disk. And because flash memory is more responsive than a hard disk, with its physical moving parts, the memory cache provided by ReadyBoost can significantly improve system responsiveness.
Using ReadyBoost is easy. You just insert your USB flash drive into your Vista system and follow the onscreen prompts to configure and use ReadyBoost.
6: Manage it
If all you really want to do with your USB flash drive is transport data, and you’re running Windows XP, you can do so more efficiently with the Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager. Once you have installed this manager, you can easily copy files to and from your drive, back up and restore the entire flash drive to and from your hard disk, change the drive label, and even create an autorun.inf file to launch Drive Manager automatically when you plug in the drive. To learn more about and download the USB Flash Drive Manager visit the Microsoft TechNet Magazine site.
The Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager provides you with a host of features, such as drive backup.
7: Password-protect it
If you use a USB flash drive to transport sensitive data that you would prefer to protect from prying eyes, should you lose the drive, Rohos Mini Drive  can safeguard that data. This security tool allows you to create a secret partition on the drive and then password-protect/encrypt that partition, thus protecting any documents you copy to that partition via the utility’s file manager. You can download (and read a review of) Rohos Mini Drive at Download.com.
Using Rohos Mini Drive, you can secure sensitive files on your USB flash drive.
8: Run a Web site from it
If you are a Web developer, you may be interested to know that with Server2Go, you can easily run a Web server that supports Apache, PHP, MySQL, and Perl right from a USB flash drive. You can use Server2Go right out of the box without any installation. It runs on all versions of Windows, supports most common browsers, and is completely free. To a developer, the benefits of having a portable Web server on a USB drive are numerous. For example, imagine being able to carry a live Web site demo into a sales pitch meeting. For more information about this package, visit the Server2Go site.
9: Lock your PC
Have you ever seen a movie in which a person in some secret government installation simply inserts and removes a card to log in and log out of a PC? If you thought that idea was cool, you’ll definitely want to investigate Predator. Once installed and configured, this little freeware utility will allow you to turn a USB flash drive into a key you can use to lock and unlock your computer.
With Predator, you can use a USB flash drive as a key to lock and unlock your computer.
While the USB flash drive is connected to your computer, everything works as it normally would. Once you remove the USB flash drive, your computer is locked down — the keyboard and mouse are disabled and the screen darkens. To unlock your computer, you just plug in the USB flash drive and the computer will be unlocked and you can begin using it. To learn more about Predator, and/or to download it, visit the developer’s Web site.

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 29, 2010 at 1:02 AM

    bro,, today my net surfing got a worth as i
    seen ur blog, damn impressiv yar. I will try
    all wht u described in ur post.very well
    explained, I hope u wl b a smart developer
    at microsoft. Whts ur faceboook id? M fnd
    of snsatayendra, he z also a msp. U both
    havng good blogs. Impressed...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I got selected as a MSP (Microsoft Student Partner)

after finishing my final round of this year MSP  programme....it was a memmorable day4meto compact with all existing and newly msp's. finally i got mail from microsoft Hi, Congratulations ! We are glad to inform you that you have been selected as a  Microsoft Student Partner  to represent your institution for the academic year 2010-2011. You will be a key point of contact for Microsoft Academia in your institution & will get the opportunity to grow a vibrant student technology community in your region. thank god!!! http://bit.ly/msp2010selection more taasks to do within a short period..hope i ll .....
2 comments
Read more

Apple Drone - A reality ???

A graphic designer in Germany by the name of Eric Huismann has a few rather detailed suggestions for Tim Cook and company on how the company might approach making its own drone, which could be useful for engaging in battle with those nosey UAVs that have been spying on the construction of its  new campus lately. Huismann’s elegant mock-ups of a potential Apple drone feature a white and black quadcopter with that sleek, curved and minimalist Apple design aesthetic. He also proposes mounting four videocameras on board capable of capturing stills, full 360-degree panoramas and 4K video that can also be streamed to a connected iOS device and then on to YouTube or another online platform for instant sharing and broadcasting.
Post a Comment
Read more

Chromebook Pixel by Google Chromebook family

Google's Chrome OS has always been similar to Microsoft Windows in how one company provides the operating system for many different manufacturers to use on their own devices. But two years ago, Google decided to create a Chromebook which was solely Google branded and designed. Although Chromebooks typically aim at the inexpensive part of the laptop market, this Google branded Chromebook had specifications that put it in line with high end Ultrabooks, and an equally high price tag. It was the original Chromebook Pixel, and its name referred to its 2560x1700 IPS display. At 239ppi it had the highest pixel density of any laptop in the world when it was released, and the rest of its specs were also impressive That brings us to the new Chromebook Pixel which was released just last week. At first glance, you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this new model and the old one. It has a similar high resolution display, and the same aluminum body with flat edges. But a...
Post a Comment
Read more