Not sure if it has been explained yet, but a lot of modern USB sticks come with U3. This is sort of useful in that it will autolaunch programs and stuff when you stick the key in. But I just see it as one huge security risk and on machines where you aren't admin it can have problems working anyways.
Here's what you are looking for, the official U3 uninstall program: http://www.u3.com/uninstall/ I know of no other good way to get rid of all the U3 auto-installer crap than use the tool. In the past I've even tried reformatted and deleting partitions from the thumb drive and the darn thing always came back. I would also HIGHLY suggest that you download Truecrypt 5.0 and setup you USB disk in "Traveller Mode". It is free, very simple to use (the Truecrypt manual is great) and it will provide peace of mind if you keep personal/private data on your key and happen to lose it: http://truecrypt.org ----- Brian Weeden Technical Consultant Secure World Foundation On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 3:04 PM, DHSinclair <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I will soon receive several new USB 2GB flash drives (Crucial and > Corsair). > They are all newest(?) technology, I believe. I suspect they may arrive > pre-formatted with "stuff" (programs) I may not wish or need to > use. Looking for the collectives thoughts here......... :) > > Should I immediately re-format (erase) the new FD's upon delivery before I > start to use them? > > I have been using a Crucial USB (v1.1) 256MB flash drive since Jan 2004. > It > works completely as expected in the USB v2.0 environs of my current > clients. This FD is now essential to me in keeping my LAN clients > semi-neutral to on another, and, keeping critical data I choose NOT to > store on any of my clients. > I now depend on the FD more than the older floppy drives of old. > Unfortunately, I have NOT been able to completely walk away from the old > floppy drives yet. BIOS updates still seem to work better from a floppy > drive than from either a local (c:\) directory, or, from a Flash Drive. > But, I am still testing this function. In time, I believe the FD will > eventually kill off the old floppy drive; but, that is JMHO. > Best, > Duncan > >