While I was browsing the Internet for new software which I have not tested or unheard of, I found USB Manager which claims to on or off USB devices and locking them. As far as I know, since Windows XP this is made possible by changing some registry keys and was wondering if this uses a different technique. USB Manager is a free software that the installer is less than 1MB in size. Installation is a breeze but be careful what you are clicking because at the last part of the setup, it asks you to choose additional products (DealPly and ICompleteU) to install and even including IxQuick search engine and IxQuick homepage on your browser. Clicking the Cancel button will avoid installing the unnecessary software.
The USB Manager places itself on the notification area and it comes with a very simple graphical user interface. Right clicking the USB manager icon shows a context menu allowing you to disable USB storage devices, disable USB printers, enable USB scanners and disable USB audio devices. As for the Options, you are able to password protect the software to prevent unauthorized users from using USB Manager, switching to a different language, hotkeys, start with Windows and hiding in system.
From what I found out through snapshot comparison, USB Manager disables USB devices by modifying the registry values. The registry changes takes effect immediately without the need to restart your computer.
Registry Location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services
Registry Keys:
USBSTOR = Storage device
usbprint = USB printer
usbaudio = USB audio
UsbScan = USB scanner
Changes the Start value:
3: Enable
4: Disable
When the USB device is disabled through the registry change, the following error message will be displayed at Device Manager “A driver (service) for this device has been disabled. An alternate driver may be providing this functionality. (Code 32)”. So if you’re seeing this error, there is a possibility that the USB device has been disabled through Windows registry. The password protect feature seems to be pretty useless because a more advanced user is able to easily re-enabled the disabled USB devices by doing a simple registry change.
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Still, not needing to go the those reg keys is a boon to some people (me included)
I found this last week: wenovo.com/freeware/usb-disks-access-manager-freeware.php
It’s portable, although it only works for USB disk/storage only (or disable the USB port completely).