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USB keys explained
Most of us are familiar with USB keys – the keyring-sized devices that can hold as much data as thousands of floppy disks.

But their simplicity makes them suitable for more jobs than you’d expect. By adding a few applications and your own data, you can turn the USB key into a personal mobile office.

With a USB key it’s possible to run your own programs on other people’s computers, without having to install anything. Alternatively, it can be used as a toolkit to help out with poorly PCs. In fact, it’s possible to use a USB key to run an entire operating system.

Apart from storing data, the next easiest way to make more of a USB key is to fashion it into a rudimentary ‘hot desk’, so that items created on a home PC are available when using a different computer. This is something that would be especially useful to those who have to use several computers. Students, in particular, might find the ability to carry favourites around invaluable.

At its simplest, this could mean loading the key with a few documents, then copying across your web favourites and possibly some email messages. Copying favourites, for Internet Explorer users, is easy. Open Internet Explorer and click the Favorites menu, then right-click the Links folder and select Open. This will open the Favorites folder in Windows.

Go back two folders by clicking twice on the green Up icon in the toolbar. Open the USB key’s disk folder and drag and drop the Favorites folder to it.

Opera and Firefox users should click the Bookmarks menu, then Manage Book m arks. In the Bookmarks Manager, click File, then Export, and give the file a name, and save it on the USB key. This is an HTML file that can be then loaded into another web browser.

It’s slightly more difficult to use email with a USB key – the best way to carry email messages is to save them (using the File, Save options in the menus) on the USB key as text messages. It is, however, possible to run an email application from the key, which we will be covering later.

Some USB keys come with software that will synchronise files and folders for you – check with the manufacturer or retailer if you are not sure. Alternatively, the Briefcase software, included with Windows, can be used to to synchronise files with the USB key.

To create a Briefcase in Windows Explorer, click the File menu, then New (this can be done in any window except that opened by double-clicking the My Computer icon), then Briefcase. Copy any files into the briefcase, then drag and drop it to the USB key’s folder.

On the other computer, double-click the Briefcase to open it, and open the files from there, saving them as usual when you have finished. To synchronise with the original computer, insert the USB key with the changed files, and double-click to open the Briefcase, then click the Briefcase menu and select Update All.

Alternatively, select the files to update and click Briefcase, then Update Selection. More details on using the Briefcase in Windows XP can be found at www.computeractive.co.uk/briefcase

There are two ways to use applications from a USB key. One is to carry around a ‘toolkit’ of application setup files, which can then be installed on other people’s computers. This is useful if you are called to troubleshoot a friend’s PC – it’s then a case of installing programs such as Spybot Search & Destroy, Ad-Aware and ZoneAlarm.

Bear in mind that only freeware and shareware applications should be carried in this way, because most paid-for applications will only allow the user to install the software on one PC. If you have deleted the setup file for favourite applications, just download them again from the original website and move them to the key.

Alternatively, and more usefully, it’s possible to install some applications on to the key itself, so that when it is inserted into another PC, the application can be run without having been installed on that PC. For a browser, try Portable Firefox

Download the Zip file from the site and open it, then drag the PortableFirefox folder to the USB key. On the other PC, just open the folder and double-click PortableFirefox.exe.

The same principle applies to the following programs – install the applications on the key, then run them by opening the key’s folder from My Computer when plugged into another PC. Portable Thunderbird allows access email away from the home PC.

When you transfer this application to another PC, double-clicking the Portable Thunderbird icon will retrieve any email from that account, no matter which PC is used.