December 11, 2022

How-To Geek: This Tool Can Boot Multiple OSes From a USB Drive

How-To Geek: This Tool Can Boot Multiple OSes From a USB Drive. “Booting a PC into a Windows installer, Linux distribution, or other CD/USB image usually requires wiping a USB drive and overwriting it with one image at a time. That means using several USB drives if you want to keep around install/recovery images for multiple operating systems. Ventoy solves this problem with a multi-boot setup — once it is installed on a USB drive, you can copy as many ISO images as you want to a single flash drive using any file manager, and then select the one you want at startup.”

Useful Stuff 0
May 30, 2020

BetaNews: Massive amounts of corporate data now stored on employee USB devices

BetaNews: Massive amounts of corporate data now stored on employee USB devices. “There has been a 123 percent increase in the volume of data downloaded to USB devices by employees since working from home has become widespread due to coronavirus. What’s more, according to a report from SaaS data protection company Digital Guardian, 74 percent of that data is subject to organisation data governance policies.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
April 4, 2020

Ubergizmo: Malware-Laden Fake Best Buy USB Drives Are Being Sent Out In The Mail

Ubergizmo: Malware-Laden Fake Best Buy USB Drives Are Being Sent Out In The Mail. “If you happen to receive a letter from Best Buy that comes with a free USB drive inside of it, don’t rejoice just yet. This is because according to a report from Trustwave, it seems that these USB drives are filled with malware that could hijack your computer if you were to insert it into your PC.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
December 26, 2019

TechCrunch: No, Spotify, you shouldn’t have sent mysterious USB drives to journalists

TechCrunch: No, Spotify, you shouldn’t have sent mysterious USB drives to journalists. “Last week, Spotify sent a number of USB drives to reporters with a note: ‘Play me.’ It’s not uncommon for reporters to receive USB drives in the post. Companies distribute USB drives all the time, including at tech conferences, often containing promotional materials or large files, such as videos that would otherwise be difficult to get into as many hands as possible. But anyone with basic security training under their hat — which here at TechCrunch we have — will know to never plug in a USB drive without taking some precautions first.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
May 20, 2018

Hongkiat: 40 Best Free Thumb Drive Applications (2018)

Hongkiat: 40 Best Free Thumb Drive Applications (2018). “Thumb drives are one of the most important and useful computer accessories you’ll ever find. These small devices are not just used to carry your data, you can use them for a lot of other functions and that includes running portable apps, and even an entire operating system. So in this post, I am listing down 40 free and useful thumb drive applications. These apps range from portable web browsers, computer games, cybersecurity, and data back up and sync solutions apart from many others.” Long list, decently annotated.

Useful Stuff 0
August 26, 2017

Lifehacker: How To Download All of Wikipedia Onto a USB Flash Drive

Lifehacker: How To Download All of Wikipedia Onto a USB Flash Drive. “Wikipedia might not always be the most accurate source of information out there, but it is one of those things that I’m constantly thankful is around. You can actually ensure that the site is always there for you, even when you don’t have a web connection, by downloading it in its entirety. We wrote about a way to do this with an open-source app called XOWA last year, but the process is actually even easier.”

Useful Stuff 0
December 12, 2016

Gizmodo: How to Turn a USB Stick into an Ultra Portable PC

Gizmodo: How to Turn a USB Stick into an Ultra Portable PC. “Who doesn’t hate carrying around their laptop? Even the lightest ones weigh a couple of pounds and can be a huge burden to lug around the city. That’s where portable apps, ones stored on a USB drive, come in. Not only do portable apps let you hop between computers easily, they also keep your main machines clear of clutter and almost as speedy as when you first booted them up. If you’re yet to dive into the wonderful world of portable apps, here’s how you can get started.”

Useful Stuff 0
September 21, 2016

Australians Getting Malware-Infested USB Drives In Their Mailboxes

Pro tip: if you get a USB drive in the mail, don’t put it in your computer. “Police are warning Aussies to stay away and never plug in any of the mysterious flash memory devices that have started showing up in people’s mailboxes. Those that haven’t heeded the warning found their machines infected with malware, and police say the USB sticks are considered to be ‘extremely harmful’.”

Security & Legal Issues 0
June 3, 2016

MakeUseOf: How to Create a Portable Windows To Go USB Drive

MakeUseOf: How to Create a Portable Windows To Go USB Drive. “Windows To Go is a version of Windows 8.1 Enterprise designed to run on a portable device such as a USB flash drive or external drive. You can install applications, and work with files stored on the drive, but you’ll have to sync any apps you may have purchased from the Windows Store manually.” I tried to set up something like this around 2007, but never managed it.

Useful Stuff 0
April 12, 2016

Study: People are Way too Casual About Random USB Drives

A new study finds that people are way too casual about plugging in USB drives they just randomly find. “Researchers from Google, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Michigan, spread 297 USB drives around the Urbana-Champaign campus. They found that 48 percent of the drives were picked up and plugged into a computer, some within minutes of being dropped.” Hey, I’d plug one in too — on a machine I’d booted from a LiveCD.

Security & Legal Issues 0
March 24, 2016

USB Malware Attacks Air-Gapped Systems?

General USBs have never been that great securitywise, but this is just scary. “Security researchers have discovered a new data-stealing Trojan that makes special use of USB devices in order to spread itself and does not leave any trace of activity on the compromised systems. Dubbed USB Thief ( or Win32/PSW.Stealer.NAI), the malware has the capability of stealthy attacking against air-gapped or isolated computers, warns ESET security firm.” “Air-gapped” are computers which are neither connected to the Internet nor connected to computers which are connected to the Internet.

Security & Legal Issues 0

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