Clever Uses for USB Drives You’ve Never Considered

We know that custom printed USB drives make great promotional items because USB drives are  one of the few gifts recipients will both keep and use, serving as a versatile and useful positive reminder of your brand for years to come.

But did you know these USB drives can be used for more than just backing up files? In fact, USB drives’ extra storage space creates a number of useful options, including:

Keep your games and apps with you on the go

As Roxana Clares wrote earlier this year, “Many popular games, apps, and tools you know and love have versions that are designed to run directly from a flash drive.”

This means when you’re away from your usual computer, “You can simply plug the drive into whatever computer you can get your hands on and work as if you’re sitting in your home office.”

Use apps to keep your computer safe

A number of new apps allow you to protect your computer by utilizing portable USB drives.

Predator, for example, essentially turns your USB drive into a key that locks and unlocks your computer. If you need to make sure your computer is locked and inaccessible to strangers, just remove your USB drive to lock it down.

LAlarm, another app, transforms your USB drive into an alarm using a cable that attaches your USB drive to your desk. If anyone tries to move your laptop, the pull on the cable will remove the USB drive from its port and produce a loud alarm.

A third app, called AVG, can help protect your computer from viruses and malware.

Temporarily boost your computer’s speed

On Windows systems, USB drives produce a pop-up menu with a “Speed Up My System” option. This allows Windows to use the storage on your USB drive as temporary additional RAM, improving the computer’s speed.