5 Cool Things To Do With A USB Flash Drive

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USB flash drives have become a common piece of equipment in everyones laptop case, so much so that we end up losing them, breaking them and getting fed up with them. But isn’t there more to a USB Flash drive than just storing files?

1.Encrypt and Set Your Flash Drive To Self Destruct In Emergencies

Ok this one probably sounds cooler than it is, but regardless it sounds pretty impressive. It doesn’t physically self destruct, but it does in more of a software sort of way. With USB Safeguard, you can encrypt all the data on your drive, and even have it self destruct and erase all data if someone tries to access it too many times with the wrong password. This way if you lose your Flash Drive, you won’t lose your bank account balance as well.

2. Use As Additional Memory

Computer feeling a bit sluggish, running low on memory? Well with the new readyboost software in Windows Vista and Windows 7 you can use external Flash drives as memory sticks. Thus giving your PC more RAM and more umph!

3. Run Apps Directly From It

Sometimes you might not want to install certain programs on your PC, or maybe you’re just not allowed on your work computer etc…. Well a handy little program called Portable Apps, lets you install portable apps onto your USB Stick so you can plug it in and run the programs on the go. Best of all it’s completely free!

4. Try The New Google Chromium OS

Googles new lightweight and superfast Chrome OS isn’t expected until later this year, but if you have a USB stick lying around, why not try out the open-source build of the code so far, just to get a quick sneak preview at it. There’s a couple of different ways to do this, but all you need is a 2GB USB stick and away you go. If you want to give it a try, have a look at this guide

5. Use It As A Key To Your Computer

Now this one’s like what you see in the movies, you have a USB drive plugged into the PC, then someone who shouldn’t be there walks in, simply whip out the USB drive, and then suddenly you’re PC’s locked down. Well now you can do it for real yourself.

A great little Program called Predator let’s you do just that, and as soon as you plug it back it, you’re PC unlocks itself again, pretty impressive eh.

So there you go, 5 super cool things to do with your USB Flash Drive,

Got anymore things to add?

Let me know in the comments

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