What's On Your Thumbdrive? 314
Broue Master asks: "Nowadays, we need to support not only people at the office, but friends, family, friends of the family, family of the friends... you name it! They all run Windows to a degree and there are many tools to help you when assisting. Personally, I have a thumb-drive with removable memory cards. One of them has a small bootable Linux, the other one is filled with ready to use Windows utilities (CPU-Z, Ultra-Edit32), DOS utilities I've been collecting over the years, and Unix-style utilities (ps.exe, kill.exe, and others) ported to Windows, without the need for a layer like Cygwin. I also have a copy of the install files for AVG, Spybot, Sygate and the likes. But, even though I think I have many great tools, I'm sure I do not know about a lot of great others to help diagnose and solve problem. So I ask you, what's on your thumb-drive?"
For those who know what I'm talking about... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Personal Wiki (Score:5, Informative)
Place a curse on Spammers [i-curse.com]
Re:Personal Wiki (Score:4, Funny)
This is
Bless TiddlyWiki [i-bless.com]
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Re:Personal Wiki (Score:4, Funny)
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Oh, you mean Knoppix? :-) (or BBC) (Score:5, Insightful)
Boot it up, check the hardware, check the partitions, replace broken files,
and of course copy the important data off to a USB shoebox drive
(or to a CD/DVD if there's a second drive in the machine)
before doing any more serious maintenance. I've had to do that routine a few times.
The old "Linux Bootable Business Card" was a much smaller distro
that fit onto one of those 50MB truncated-small-CD formats,
and had a bunch of repair tools.
And of course thumbdrives can do the same thing,
but you need to be Really Really careful about viruses,
not only because we're reinventing the floppy disk virus vector,
but because one of the times you really need this sort of tool
is when a machine might be infected - CDROMs are really safe.
Top secret military information (Score:2, Funny)
Porn.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Porn.. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Porn.. (Score:5, Funny)
That's why I carry four other fingers and a Palm.
Here are two excellent resources... (Score:5, Informative)
PortableApps.com [portableapps.com]
PortableFreeware.com [portablefreeware.com]
-Jim Barr
http://jimstips.com/ [jimstips.com]
Re:Here are two excellent resources... (Score:5, Interesting)
I've also been crazy enought to run Steam on one of my 1 gig thumb drives. Simply install Steam and the games of your choice localy (I did it with Half-Life and TFC). Then copy the whole Steam folder to your thumb drive. While updates take a long time, booting the game and downloading new maps isn't nearly as bad as you would think. Lag was minimal when I tested.
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Re:Here are two excellent resources... (Score:5, Funny)
-Mike
Everything (Score:5, Funny)
So, technically its not a thumbdrive, but it fits in my pocket.
EVERYTHING.
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Re:Everything (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Everything (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Everything (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Everything (Score:5, Funny)
Depending on your point of view, and judging by a lot of posts here, I think you're looking for "Insightful".
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They've got their limitations though:
They're not so easy to carry around full time (you couldn't attach on
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At last reckoning... (Score:2)
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mozilla? (Score:5, Informative)
Book 'em. (Score:5, Funny)
Fingerprints.
--
"Slashdot requires you to wait between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment...that says the same thing you're going to post, and you get a redundent. HA! HA!"
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Don't People Bother to "Search" Before Posting? (Score:5, Informative)
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This could be the best post from that article: http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=120583&ci
This is probably the only time I would defend the slashdot editors about a dupe.
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(Score:3, Insightful)
by itwerx (165526)
on Friday September 03, @09:08PM (#10155070)
(http://slashdot.org/)
"this topic is a dupe from like.. last year or so"
A lot can change in a year.
===
I guess you didn't realize your grousing was redundant too?
===
As for what's on my drive right now, I have some photos backed up from my digital camera while I was on vacation at someone's computer who had a Compact Flash drive to read my card. I also always keep Fi
Pixels (Score:2, Offtopic)
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Oooooooooooooooo, geek porn!
KFG
A little of Everything (Score:2)
Sneaker net (Score:5, Funny)
Unspeakable (Score:2, Funny)
You don't want to know.
Beats me. (Score:5, Funny)
Beats me. You'll have to ask the guy who swiped it.
--MarkusQ
A few win32 apps on my drive (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A few win32 apps on my drive (Score:5, Informative)
Re:A few win32 apps on my drive (Score:4, Funny)
Ok, ok, I'm joking. I didn't know there was a portaputty, but I'm definitely going to get it now. Thanks.
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Sysinernals (Score:4, Insightful)
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More importantly, my USB stick is an MP3 player - which is
write-protectable.
Nethack (Score:3, Funny)
Sysinternals (Score:5, Informative)
If you do any Windows troubleshooting, this website is a must-have. No joke.
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My malware cleaning stuff... (Score:5, Informative)
Trend Microsystems "Sysclean" package. It's just an exe file with the scanning engine, and you download the latest virus def patternfile, and it scans your computer. Very nice; TM I think is the best commercial AV product available.
Sysclean executable:
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/dcs.asp [trendmicro.com] (under "Not a Trend Micro Customer")
Pattern files:
http://www.trendmicro.com/download/pattern.asp [trendmicro.com]
I also carry, in the "Antivirus" folder:
Various utilities I've collected for removing Symantec AV
AVG Free installer (I tried to talk people into TrendMicro, because I honestly think it's better, but if they flat out refused, I'd install AVG for them - less virusy computers on teh intarwebs is a good thing)
vcleaner - avg's somewhat less capable version of TM's sysclean package.
Also:
A series of handy apps, including:
7zip - v313 (the older one seems to have less bloat)
adobe acrobat
Divx codec
VLC Media Player
Firefox
Winamp 2.92
IttyBittyProcessManager
Angry IP scanner
Killbox
MSRDPCLI.exe (MS Remote Desktop Client - for 2000/98 machines)
vbrun60 files
and a folder called "Computer Cleanup", containing:
ad aware personal (plus the latest defs.ref file, available form lavasoftusa.com)
CWShredder (remove cool web search spyware)
Hijack this
ewido setup
LSP Fix (for sneaky spywares that replace something with dns)
WinsockXPFix
BugOff
RegVac
Spybot S&D (plus latest update packs)
Yep.
USB Thumb Drives Spreading Viruses? (Score:2)
No Hassle Rewards. (Score:5, Funny)
My Capital One card.
Easy to bring it all.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Quick list (Score:5, Interesting)
1by1 (play MP3s), AriskKey (recover passwords), AutoRuns (enumerate startup tasks), BurnCDCC (burn ISO images), CD (basic CD player), CDex (rip CDs + convert MP3/WAV), Copier (quick scan + print), CWShredder (clean spyware), DComBob (tame DCOM), Discover (force windows onscreen), DupeLocater (find and clean), FileRecovery PC Inspector (undelete), Folder2ISO (make ISO images), FoxitReader (read PDFs), GUIPDFTK (split/join PDFs), HijackThis (find spyware), HJSplit (split/join files), Identify_Boards (identify hardware), IPAgent (show IP), KatMouse installer (due to MS drivers), LCISOCreator (make ISO image from CD), Leaktest (test firewall), Microsoft keygen (people lose things), MultiRes (change res + force refresh), Multi Timer (stopwatch), NoteTab Light (text editor), NTest (test monitor setup), OnTop (pin windows to foreground), Process Explorer (task manager), ProduKey (recover passwords), Registry Commander (virus cleanup), ResHacker (examine executables), Rootkit Revealer (just in case), ShootTheMessenger (turn service off), Shred by AnalogX (simple filer shredder), TedNPad (unicode text editor), TFT (dead pixel locator), UNPnP (tame SSDP), UPX (compress executables), UnitConverter (what it says), utorrent (basic torrent app), VCdControlTool (mount ISO images), Windows 98 generic USB flash driver, WinImp (archive to ZIP, de-archives more), WinIPs (set hardware IPs), Wizmo (create force kill shortcuts), WNTIPCFG (show IP config), WS_FTP95 (basic FTP client), XnView (image browser and effects), XPDite (minor XP-SP1 fix), YACalc (evaluate expressions), XVI32 (hex editor)
Chicken and egg problem ;) (Score:5, Funny)
I foresee interesting problems in your future.
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Don't laugh. I also have the Windows 98 driver for the USB stick on my USB stick. I use Knoppix to copy the driver onto the Windows 98 partition. It's surprising how often copying the driver for the USB stick off the USB stick via Knoppix comes in handy...
What's in my thumbdrive??? (Score:5, Funny)
Time to Move On (Score:4, Insightful)
I used to do the same. Install Windows then a metric bucketload of "utilities" (text editors, Sysinternals programs, ActiveState Perl, ActivateState Python, Resource Kits, etc.) that made using Windows bearable. Like some self-fulfilling prophecy. And back when collecting warez was regarded as fashionable and not adolescent, I'd install even more Must Have programs. Now, when possible, I simply skip the nonsense and install Cygwin.
No emulation layer needed? Maybe. In a few isolated cases, perhaps. But if you're going to run a program, you'd prefer a centralised distribution. And then you'll need a real terminal, you'll need a real shell, interpreters, centralised and consistent documentation, and you'll mostly like needed something like SSH to make it all work. Hell, a full Cygwin installation is comparable a typical Linux installation, and larger than Windows, but for an average user, the base install (coreutils, etc.) with SSH and few other packages will more than suffice. A no brainer compared to collect one-off programs from any number of sources.
The consistency is especially nice in that I can go back and forth from Linux or BSD without blinking (same programs and same manpages, right?), no annoying little problems like CR/LF endings get in the way. And as a bonus, I get a perverse pleasure reading the manpages I wrote for Windows programs.
GPG Private Keys (Score:2)
That thumbdrive isn't getting plugged in much.
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my resume (Score:2)
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Setup was a breeze, and I now use it everywhere. I've only tried it in windows so far, but I have no reason to expect that the linux versions won't work perfectly well too.
I really like the level of security it appears to provide, and I no longer worry about identity or information theft by any casual or semi-serious adversary.
I have it installed on my 2002/2003 vintage Lexar JumpDrive 128, and on my newer PNY 2gb drive, and on my Sony Micro Vault 512mb. You can install just the e
The information needed to rebuild my life (Score:5, Interesting)
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Given the chance, banks and insurers will gladly do everything they can to, well, forget to help you retrieve that information, especially if you're not sure where you got your CD/insurance policy..
Re:The information needed to rebuild my life (Score:5, Insightful)
If there's one thing Katrina taught me, it's that losing your entire life would completely suck. Why not take a few minutes now so that you can get back to normal ASAP?
If all you need to rebuild your life can hold on a thumbdrive, I wonder what kind of life you live ;-)
Anyways, why carry it with you? Zip your stuff, encrypt it if you want, and put it on a couple of servers that are in two different cities. If you're gonna get in a Katrina-type situation, rather have your data in some server in Germany than in your pocket.
Old Games (Score:2)
Doom. (Score:4, Interesting)
Arsenal of Tools (Score:5, Informative)
I think they're a great idea, because I can move with the SD card market as flash memory becomes denser and denser. Speed hasn't been a problem, either. The thumbdrives support USB 2.0 and my SD card seems to be capable of a very decent data transfer rate.
I have a collection of Windows tools on the drive. Not Linux tools, because I can usually accomplish whatever it is I'm doing in the Linux environments I encounter day to day.
Network Tools:
* Raw TCP/IP transfer -> netcat ( http://www.vulnwatch.org/netcat/ [vulnwatch.org] )
* SSH/Telnet -> putty ( http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty
* Port Scanner -> SuperScan4 ( http://www.foundstone.com/resources/proddesc/supe
* Classic Port Scanner -> nmap ( http://insecure.org/nmap/download.html [insecure.org] )
* Packet Capture and Analysis -> WireShark setup ( http://www.wireshark.org/download.html [wireshark.org] )
Editors:
* General -> vim 7.0 ( http://www.vim.org/download.php [vim.org] )
* Hex Editor -> xvi32 ( http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xv
Development:
* Tiny C Compiler ( http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/tcc/ [bellard.free.fr] )
* nasm ( http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?grou
Misc:
* Lightweight Windows md5sum -> md5summer ( http://www.md5summer.org/download.html [md5summer.org] )
* Process Explorer ( http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExpl
* MP3 Encoding -> RazorLame with lame ( http://www.dors.de/razorlame/download.php [www.dors.de] )
* Terminal Emulator -> TeraTerm Pro ( http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA002416/teraterm.
The folder is 26.7MB.
just the obvious. (Score:2, Redundant)
I keep mine clean (Score:4, Insightful)
I just burn it to a CD (Score:3, Interesting)
Another advantage to the CD for things like Damn Small Linux is that you're much more likely to come accross a computer that can boot from CD (pretty common on anything 5-6 years old or newer) than a computer that can boot from USB (pretty much only standard new on PCs from the last 1-2 years or so, if that).
OpenOffice.org (Score:2)
BartPE is better (Score:2)
For fixing Windows machines, NOTHING is better than a BartPE CD with the right plug-ins.
Anyone who fixes Windows machines and knows what they're doing has been using BartPE for a couple of years, now.
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BIOS flash updates (Score:3, Informative)
The last time I had to do that, it was to a Dell laptop that dual-booted Windows, and the update only ran under Windows. Before then, it was DOS boot floppies and 'flash.exe'. So I wasn't looking forward to it.
Oh, how things have changed! Asus has a flash update program built into the BIOS and that program supports reading FAT filesystems on thumbdrives!
I hadn't actually used a thumb drive in a few years (since getting an iPod), so I actually had to dig it up from the bottom of a drawer, but it was there (the backup plan was going to be an SD card from the camera and the SD-to-USB adapter), and it worked.
Asus may not be the only ones that support OSless flash updates via USB, but it's the 2nd most convenient BIOS update I've ever had to do (1st place goes to Apple).
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I remember BIOS flashers that found files on a FAT floppy, and I remember being desperate enough to actually hook up a floppy drive just for that. I remember burning custom boot CDs, or using a DOS boot CD and a temporary FAT partition. I can never remember it being particularly convenient, and yours sounds very nice.
But how can Apple beat that? Can you actually flash from inside the OS?
Tire Tracks (Score:2)
Severe Thumbdrive Addiction Syndrome... (Score:3, Interesting)
Now, what do I keep on mine? Slax - Kill Bill, of course [slax.org] it really has brought me the level of standardization that I need from one computer to the next and it can do all (like many other small distros) the things that I need. I would however recommend something like Truecrypt [sourceforge.net] for ensuring the security of your information. I would also recommend that you back your drive up on a regular basis, these things can be a bit unforgiving.
I could go on and on about the various apps, it really all depends on what you are doing. I do find the following though, very useful: Wireshark (Ethereal) [wireshark.org], Open Office [openoffice.org] and the usual suspects, samba, Etherwake, NVU, Thunderbird, rdesktop, various vnc flavors and other well known management utilities.
If I did not emphasize enough earlier, if you are going to rely on these little gems, I think you should always have an identical spare, and additionally, perform a backup on a regular basis. You might want to get creative and build a library of tools which could be easily accessed remotely to keep your drive lean. I would also highly recommend encrypting data you wouldn't want public.
What I have on my drive. (Score:2, Informative)
Hijack This. Spybot & Ad Aware. Various Virus scanners & fixes. Ghost and TrueImage. MSCONFIG for Win2k machines. Keyfinder. reg files for particular tasks. hosts file to limit access (to myspace!). Windows Disk Cleanup (cleanmgr.exe). IE5 & IE6 install files. IEradicator. CPUZ. Winsockfix. Various standard network drivers for all Windows OSes including USB network drivers. Office updates, various versions. Zone Alarm. Winzip & WinRAR. Some DOS windows unix util ports, i.e.
DJGPP for Unix-style utilities (Score:2)
Insert subject here (Score:5, Insightful)
Nothing. No, really. I use it to transfer files, not as the "Ultimate thing for fixing anything"
Exactly (Score:2)
Finnix (Score:2)
Finnix [finnix.org], a small sysadmin livecd I produce, can be easily installed on a thumb drive. Boot the CD, and there's a script called finnix-thumbdrive that takes care of the necessary syslinux configurations to install on a thumb drive and make it bootable. Finnix includes a ton of utilities for sysadmins, and boots up pretty quickly.
No, they don't "all run Windows" (Score:2)
No, they don't. I fixed that "hey, I have trouble with my computer, can you quickly drop by and fix it?" problem quite easily: I don't support Windows boxes. Buy a Mac or don't call me. Those who bought a Mac hardly ever have to call, and those who kept Windows boxes eventually found somebody else to harass.
For Macs, if there actually is an issue that some simple troubleshooting steps can't fix (which is quite unlikely), I use DiskWarrior and the Apple-provided Tech Tools [apple.com]
Very small USB drive (Score:3, Interesting)
Since you asked... (Score:2)
Openoffice (Score:2)
Why system restore utilities? (Score:3, Interesting)
Unix Tools and such (Score:4, Interesting)
First, you have to deal with the fact that your USB key may not always mount as the same drive letter. I use pstart to take care of this: http://www.pegtop.de/start/ [pegtop.de]. A great little app to give you a consistent environment no matter who's machine you are using.
Next, a unix environment. First, get a bunch of tools (including zsh) from here:
http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]. Some of these don't work (man, df, etc), so you will want to find better versions elsewhere (they do exist! I just discovered a good version of DF from this thread, thanks! Others include dd, ls). Zsh is the killer app from this suite. A nice shell that does not depend on cygwin. You'll need to create two files to set up your environment. All of my unix tools exist in a subdirectory called 'unixtools' on the key disk.
Start with a script (call it startup) to properly initialize zsh to know where your stuff is. You then initialize zsh from pstart using 'unixtools/zsh.exe startup' Note that $UTD will now be defined as your unix tools drive for use in any other sh scripts you want to write:
And of course we need a .zshrc (you need to replace ls with a version I don't recall where is at this moment for DIRCOLORS to work). You can see I have set up some aliases, most notably for gvim (this demonstrates the use of $UTD):
One app I like to use on the USB drive is freecommander. Unfortunately, this program relies solely on its INI file, and does not take parameters for browsing. To fix this, I wrote the following script called 'browse' for launching it:
Notice above that I can actually use a 'shebang' line, thanks to the $ZSHROOT environment set up in our startup script. Very cool! This even works if you install activestate perl on your key disk. I put perl in unixtools/perl. That means that from your zsh, you can do things like './test' where 'test' has '#!/perl/bin/perl.exe -w' as its first line. I think this is very cool!
:) Some other things I have on the key disk, that didn't involve quite the devotion of time:
I should put this all on a web page one of these days
All for repair and maintain... (Score:3, Informative)
I see all sorts of jacked up computers.. Here's the usual rundown of things that I keep on my drive.
Google Pack Installer - (three free months norton good for getting rid of virsues.)
Norton Intelligent Updater - Used to update defintions for every version of norton. Google it and grab the x86 version(the second on the page.)
Trend Micro Pattern Files - Same thing for Trend Micro, google it.
AVG Free - Something more permanent for cheap bastards.
Spybot and includes files.
Adaware personal and include files.
Ewido - I love you ewido, too bad you run really crappy in safe mode.
Dial-A-Fix - Reregisters dll files neccessary to components like windows update and SSL security. Fixes all sorts of permissions things jacked up by spyware as well. This is an amazing tool, google it and be amazed.
MS Scripting Engine 5.6 - This solves a lot of problems you will have with programs having blank screens, or if system restore is a blank screen, or windows update is blank as well.
XP Winsock Fix - Explicit^Software wrote this great vb script to reset the TCP/IP and WINSOCK stack to default settings. Useful if the internet isn't working, commonly associated with the nasty spyware.
Firefox - Nuff Said.
Drivers - I collect the drivers I need for the things I run into. The biggest collection are HP printer drivers, and linksys drivers for PCI cards and USB drivers.
Hijack This - Merjin software's great tool to give you the rundown on what's running on your computer. You really have to know what your doing with this tool though.
My Music - All my music that I tend to listen to.
Norton Ghost - I keep the install files for my copy of Norton Ghost on my drive, makes moving or replacing drives a snap.
MemTest ISO - Memory Tester.
DFT ISO - Drive fitness test for hard drives. If you know the brand of drive you are testing, use the tester from the manufacturer as they often print out RMA codes and have better tests for their drive. I've gotten free replacement drives this way from Maxtor and Seagate. Both companies which keep my business.
Linux Password Crack - Used to reset XP administrator logins for people that lock themselves out of their machine.
OpenOffice - I don't always have it on there, but good for people who need to do office stuff, and don't feel like being a pirate and recognize good stuff.
Linksys Firmware - Many linux firmware upgrade files for Linksys Routers and devices. WRT54g Versions 5 and 4 were buggy at times until you upgraded the firmware. Especially version 5. Sometimes the router was just plain defective.
SymNRT - Removes all versions of norton, there is also rnav2003 that removes below a certin point. Useful for when norton gets borked and ruins how the machine works.
Windows Updates - All critical sercurity patches, and a script that fires them off in proper order and silently.
SP2 - Big enough to list on it's own.
Windows Installer Cleanup Utility - Used to stop programs that constantly install themselves over and over and over and over and get really annoying.
There are many others, and I'm sure I've left out a few, but I think these will help everyone out.
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That said, I think the average user may still be better off with Firefox (despite it being targeted
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Personally I keep a bunch of stuff on my iPod for whenever I may need it. I have a portable version of Firefox, and I keep PuTTy and WinSCP to get to my Linux server from any computer that's available. I was intrigued to see that there's a portable OpenOffice.org as well. That might be worth downloading if I ever find
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*ducks and runs away* (So no, I won't be here all week.)