Could you explain the pros and cons of the new U3 flash drives? I can’t make heads or tails of what this new technology is supposed to do for us. Because they look just like any other flash drive, many people (like me) will buy them and get a shock when they plug it into a USB socket. I bought a SanDisk Micro Cruzer, and when I popped it in, up came this menu screen, leaving me wondering what to do next. – Allan Zirlin
A. U3 is the latest moneymaking scheme by makers of the ever more popular thumb-size (and smaller) memory sticks that plug into USB ports, and you, Mr. Z., are an early beneficiary/victim.
The idea is that the tiny pocket-friendly devices will carry the software that a user needs, as well as data for which the tiny drives originally were designed.
The U3 consortium of memory manufacturers, led by SanDisk, standardizes things so users of different brands can do stuff such as handle Outlook e-mail by plugging a USB drive to any available computer. The small drives can run everything from the free PC telephone service Skype to Party Poker, as well as the free OpenOffice productivity suite and so on.
It’s up to the maker what software might be included on its U3-capable thumb drives, and at U3.com, other programs can be downloaded – some for free but most for a charge.
San Disk’s Cruzer line has offered synchronization with Microsoft Office for several years, but for many makers of memory drives, the U3 initiative is the first time that onboard software was included.
There are reasons to be quite rhapsodic about this new offering, because it really does free a lot of traveling businessfolks and academics from dragging along a heavy laptop when they can carry their programs and data in a half-ounce stick the size of a chewing gum pack.
If you just want a memory card, however, the auto-play feature that comes with the drives can be a royal pain in one’s U3. So here are a couple of fixes: Hold down the Shift key when the stick is plugged into the USB port, and the U3 programs won’t appear.
Temporarily disable the drives by using the Windows Device Manager to disable them, or just open the icon for the U3 drive and select all of the icons for the software and delete them all. That is an irreversible deletion, because the only way to get U3 capabilities is to buy a preloaded drive.
If you want to explore things more, check out www.u3.com/support.
It’s kind of sad to see the tech establishment take something as sweet and simple as the thumb drive and kludge it up with software that can – and will – go wrong from time to time. On the other hand, some people will find a welcome new tool indeed in this new player.
