Windows is unstable enough without the registry being rewritten every time somebody comes by with one of these things. Do you really want it installing then removing files without telling you what it's doing? Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

And there's nothing you can do to stop me.

If it is treated like read only memory, it would be more secure. If you get a virus or worm, just reformat the hard drive and replace everything from the ROM. May take more space or require a second hard drive. I think I like it.

I have a Kingston U3 drive and it doesn't do any registry writes or put files on the HD. All the apps/files are self contained locally on the stick. I found though that I haven't used the apps too much because I don't sit down at too many peoples computers to do work. Having Firefox and all my bookmarks (synced with google browser sync) is the most useful app, with a local Thunderbird that leaves the mail on my server a close second. I do use it at work to copy files to/from coworkers and partners computers and having Avast scan their machines and the documents I copy is good piece of mind.

.. any hardware plugged into a Windows machine will alter the registry - otherwise it wouldn't be usable. With that said, I have used a U3 drive from another manufacturer and it works w/o any problems - even on unstable spyware infested machines. I loaded mine with ani-virus/anti-spyware products.

Take a look at www.portableapps.com for apps that do NOT write to the registry and are very productive (i.e. not use U3). There is a big issue with U3 if a person installs the U3 loader from scandisk on the host computer. From that point on, all regular USB keys are not correctly recognized. That is why mobile types should carry one U3 and one regular key.

I just bought one of these and it works great the U3 apps are good also. And regular USB drives do work after you install these. I have not used it on many computers so I have not decided whether or not I'm gonna uninstall U3. It seems really easy to unintall its right in the settings menu, no need for a special program. The most appealing feature is the design. Its solidly built with a cool metal finish. I would definitely recommend it to anyone considering buying a new flash drive.

Just picked up a new Sandisk U3 2Gb. So far the permission is stuck at ROM and shows a total capacity of 5.4 mb - phew ! How did they manage that?

My SanDisk Cruzer 4GB U3 flashdrive freezes my computer every time I use it.

hello, im considering the sandisk titanium with U3. ive heard U3 tries to autorun and install on every computer you plug into. is this true? i have also heard it is a huge pain to remove. did you ever figure out how to remove it? how easy was it for you? can you just turn U3 off and then on if you want to use it? thanks

I plugged in the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium & the light comes on but it won't read. However, I plugged it into another computer at my office and it installed itself and was able to be used immediately. From that computer I formatted the flashdrive and then brought it back to my computer... still doesn't work.

Hi Kylie, I bought a cruzer Micro and do have the same problem i allready flased the BIOS (upgrade the BIOS) that could be your problem too ! so look if your BIOS is upgraded to the latest version

Seems like I have same problem as Kylie [posted 9/11]. Freezes up "My Computer" file every freak'n time (5 times now!) It's not reading anything, then I lose my desktop icons, only reappear when I pull out the device. I just bought this today! Theo said something about BIOS, what is this?

It seems like its just a piece of junk. I bought mine yesterday and same problem with freezing up. How can this product even be sold?

i just bought a U3 cruzer micro 1 GB and it works fine on my home computer, but when i go to school to try to get all my files to copy to it, it freezes the "my computer" and closes any programs i have running, once i pull it out the "my computer" goes back to normal

I had exactly the same problem with the device freezing my XP machine. The problem was the U3 Launcher program that auto runs at insertion; it would hang when inserted to my desktop. You can download a removal program via www.U3.com site, but the catch is that you have to have the Cruzer inserted and recognized, and the U3 Launcher program running to remove it. I was lucky, my laptop would run the program and recognize the drive. Once I removed this idiotic program, I can now use the drive.

I have the same problem on my Dell laptop. When I plug in the U2 jump drive it causes the computer to freeze up. When I remove the drive every thing settles back to normal. I narrowed it down to Musicmatch jutebox process that are running on my machine. If I kill the two process the U3 drive works. If I run Musicmatch jukebox before or during the U3 drive being inserted, it freezes. I belive the U3 software has some conflicts with several applications. I hope the code writers can work this out, it is cool technology. Especially the backup sync application.

I have the same problem many others posted here. The problem is in fact a conflict with MIM.EXE used for MusicMatch Jukebox. Once this service is stopped the USB Drive works perfect. I had called tech support originally and they were trying to tell me there was a problem with my computer. After some research on this site I found the problem. I called Tech Support back and the different guy I spoke to (Calvin) knew exactly what the problem was which makes me wonder why the first guy had his head up his A$$. Anyway, they tell me they are working on it but... that could be a very long time. In the meantime you have some options. 1) Return the device... 2) Stop the MIM.EXE task before plugging in the device 3) Kill the registry entry that starts MIM.EXE 4) UNinstall MusicMatch and use iTunes :-) Enjoy and thanks for David above (10/03) for finding this. -tialoc

In the cruzersync program...can't delete files nor update cruzersyn.....

Thanks to Frustrated, I got my new 2GB SanDisk U3 to work on my home computer. It worked at work (say that three times fast). The difference? No MusicMatch at work. I will probably uninstall the U3 while I have it working - Thanks Jim L.

Got myself a new Cruzer 2GB U3 drive, really impressed with the launch software, started loading it up with useful software, PuTTY, Firefox etc and then it hung.. got a Windows delayed write failure, lost sight of the drive, waited 40 minutes (alright, went to cook a meal), still no drive. Shut down the PC, restarted it and voila, no Cruzer, it's toast, not seen on any of my machines as a disk, they all recognise there's something plugged but I can't access it anywhere. Guess what's going back for a refund tomorrow.

Just purchased a 2GB cruzer U3 drive and it totally hosed my sony viao. Even after removing the Cruzer drive my computer will not recognize any of the cd drives and locks up in the attempt. Can someone recommend a fix for this problem? layman521@yahoo.com Thanks

Totally froze my Windows XP machine every time I inserted it. Had to push power button on PC to reboot and then Windows entered "safe mode". When I contacted Tech. Support they said my PC was not compatable with the drive. That's funny, according to the specs on the packaging my PC is totally compatable. I'm returning it for a refund and will buy a Kingston drive which I use a work without problems. How can these companies produce and sell such junk? SanDisk has lost this sale and any future sale they may have had with me ... I just won't deal with this company again. Ian.

I only just received this yesterday and figured out what the problems was, the fact that it's 2drives one as storage the other as MBR (Master Boot Record). I thought that could only be the problem so get rid of the MBR by uninstalling the U3 prog. Didn't work on my Athlon X2, but it did on my sister's Pentium so I uninstalled it and it asks that it will just function as an ordinary storage.... Yes bludy please or you can have it reformat and reinstall the progs... haha. Now It works like a dream. Not going to bother sending it back , which was my intention straight away yesterday. Hope this helps

Cruzer Micro froze my 2004 Dell with XP too. Unplugging it would unfreeze the machine. Only way it would work was by rebooting with Cruzer plugged in.
Thanks to Frustrated it now works all the time after I removed Music Match Jukebox

FINALLY - THIS WORKED! My computer immediately froze up when I inserted my new U3 Micro 1GB drive into the USB port. I called SanDisk tech support, who told me that I needed to uninstall MusicMatch for my drive to work properly. I love MusicMatch so that wasn't going to happen. I went to the Task Manager and stopped any process that had "MM" in it (there were two). I did not see the "MIM.exe" one that Frustrated mentioned above. Once I stopped these processes, then I could access the drive! I went to SanDisk.com and downloaded the U3 Launchpad Removal Tool to remove the U3 software that is causing the problems. I removed the jump drive, rebooted my computer, and the drive has worked normally from then on! This is really annoying, you'd think that SanDisk would test their drive especially when it is not compatible with a program as common as MusicMatch! Hope this helps some of you.

I just bought a sandisk cruzer micro 2 go and also have freezing problems. I have uninstall U3 and the drive work. But the drive is very slow. Doe's someone have the same performance problem(xp sp2) ?

The u3 drive is a great idea. But it is still somewhat in the infant stage. Give it time and it should get better like most technology. I had the same problem with my 2gig Micro working on my work PC, but not my home PC. I figured that it was conflicting with another application but couldn't figure out which one. Then I read Frustrated's post and realized that it was Musicmatch! Damn that program! I shoulda known,that causes so many other programs to not function right. Anyways, I killed the MIM.exe process and like magic my U3 app opened right up.

i bought a 1GB cruzer last week and tryed using i last night.....it locks up everything at once i click on teh drive in mycomputer. All icons go away...intel i take out the drive. So thanks to Frustrated!!! i deleted MIM ( musicmatch ) and it seems to be working fine. THANK YOU Frustrated, your a life saver.

We purchased 3 2GB U3 cruzer drives a couple of months ago and slowly they have all died out. We experienced all of the problems listed above. First the hanging then the device not being ablt to start. Only thing is I do not have musicmatch installed. I have data on the drive and would like to see if I can get it back. Any advice ? ? ?

How To Remove Your ScanDisk U3 Launcher The Right Way

SanDisk U3 Launchpad Removal Tool
http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1415

From:

U3 USB Flash Smart Drive
http://www.u3.com

Download target file "launchpadremoval.exe" onto your PC running Windows-XP, select "No" to not replace the files after formatting & then it's all gone for good. U3 disappears & all you are left w/ is just an empty drive. Which is all I wanted...

if you have read only, check the next drive. it creates 2 (on my system E: and F:) F: is writable, E: is not. SanDisk tech support was very patient until they managed to get this through to me .

although the launchpad removeal sounds like a good idea.

Don't blame Sandisk for the Musicmatch MIM problem. The Mim component of Musicmatch is a buggy piece of crap that conflicts with every single type of removable storage, even hard drives. The lack of action on this issue by Musicmatch is appauling as MIM has been screwing up USB devices for not months but years.

Got a Cruzer Micro 1GB w/U3 and was stuck until I read Frustrated. Goodbye Musicmatch. Windows Media Player is better anyway. Thanks

Frusterated, you are amazing! Thanks for solving my problem. Now I'm going to repost what you did on all of the other sites that didn't help me!

Bought my cruzer 512. Junk. The U3 locks up my PC everytime I attempt to use it. Have to manually shut down the PC and reboot. I even lost my monitor after rebooting. Had to unplug the monitor from the power source, then plug it back in, and the monitor worked. Can you say refund? If there are so many similiar problem reports, why didn't Sandisk notice it, unless they don't test their products before sending it to market. Randy

I've got both a 1GB U3 Micro and a brand new 4GB U3 Micro. The 1GB works just fine, even though I have MusicMatch installed on this computer. I tried the 4GB drive and now it's locking up. It did run successfully once, and after I tried updating the U3 software on it, it locks up again. I think I'll try updating the U3 software one last time with MM disabled...maybe that'll work. Although the 1GB drive still works just fine! I don't get it...

Just to follow up on my last post... I can get the 4GB drive to run fine if I disable the two MusicMatch processes. The 1GB drive runs fine no matter what. I've made sure that they both have the latest U3 software loaded on them and that they're running the same U3 programs. Everything is identical, but one locks up my computer and the other doesn't. Just got off the phone with SanDisk, and they have no idea either.

My desktop froze up everytime I put it the Cruzer, I was able to use it on my Laptop, I formatted Cruzer to remove the programs that were installed in it, I think this was what was preventing my dektop from access files. It now works.

My Cruzer Titanium from Costco crashed my Windows XP Pro machine every time I plugged it in. I thought it might be a USB problem; after reading these positngs, I know it's poor software from SanDisk.
Thanks,
Bill

Does anyone know how to remove all traces of SanDisk U3 from the registry? Thanks

I have the same problem as some people before. The Sandisk Cruzer Titanium U3 makes my computer reboot in less than one second after being inserted. Then the computer had really much problems starting again. I thought it had crashed totally. I don't use any program called MusicMatch which were mentioned by someone.

I uninstalled Ahead's CdIn and now it works...

I note people are still having problems...

yesterday I picked up the 4GB cruzer, put it in my XP2 laptop, and everything froze as in many cases above...BUT I can only work in SAFE mode now. The laptop will not start in normal mode. I've done a system restore, but still no change. I've formatted the drive as suggested above. will try another reboot soon. fingers crossed!

Ah. Frustrated saved my life. I thought that the files I had on the drive were corrupted, or something else of that sort. And I definitely didn't want to think that my computer would be screwed.

Thanks for the tip, Frustrated.

URGE also makes it lock up.

THANK YOU FRUSTRATED! I was going crazy trying to figure out why it worked on give other PCs but not my laptop. I tried holding down shift to prevent the Launchpad from loading, but it still would crash.

Turns out it's the Musicmatch Jukebox processes. Disabled those (why is MMJB running processes anyway??) and all is well.

--chris

Not only musicmatch, but there is a whole list of programs that conflict with it.
Roxio was mine.
I uninstalled u3 from it by using the uninstall program, but it still crashes my computer.

yo guys, this isn't a bad product, I had the same problem. As someone said earlier, it's Music Match Jukebox thats screwing us all up. All you have to do is ctrl-alt-delete, got to processes, find mim.exe, and terminate it and it'll work

Thank you, thank you, thank you....MusicMatch go BYE BYE! Cruzer is back in peak performance.

Same problem as everyone else...works on one computer, freezes or is not recognized by another computer. I uninstalled U3 using the settings tab on U3 and followed the instructions to uninstall. It now works like a charm.

I had a similar problem with my Windows XP system, and resolved it by removing the Sonic CinePlayer from the System Tray.

Apparently some kind of auto-launch CD provision interferes with the CD-ROM seen by the U3 file system.

Ok, I plugged a scandisk cruser 512mb into my laptop. Thigns were fine for a couple of hours thenmy computer shut down and now it wont even boot up in safe mode. Can someone please help me? I just got this laptop...

I've got the SanDisk Cruzer 4gig, I use none of the fore mentioned programs, and none of the fore mentioned processes are running on my PC on insertion. Yet I still get a hard-reboot a few seconds (usualy 2-4) after inserting the flash-drive. -sigh- First SanDisk product that I've bought that doesn't work great. Kind of disappointing. (OS- XP SP2)

My data backup scripts are set up for E drive. All my other flash drive show up on E. I installed all the programs from the scandisk drive with the uninstall and uninstall with the removal tool. This stick still wants to go to F drive. any suggestions. It probably wrote something in my registry.

I have a U3 micro for about two years. And I have to say that I use it everywhere I go. Not one single computer has froze, crashed, or acted up on it. I use it at work, at home, friends computers... so far it works wonderfully. So far I can count over 10 different computers (laptops, desktops, XP, Vista, Govt & Military) where I have used the U3 with no problems. I even got the licenses for the portable passwords and it has been a relief for not having to remember all the passwords for all the websites I have to go to.

Now, one thing I DO RECOMMEND is checking your settings for "auto start-up" of the U3 software. I have it set-up so it does not start automatically. Thus, I'm the one starting the software. That way you don't have to worry about U3 software running by itself at insertion of the stick. And if you are looking for the U3 "keys", I think they are located within the [C:\Documents and Settings\"username"\Application Data] folder, within a folder named U3. That is where I always find them in case I have to check them.

The only downsize I have is that I was able to get only the 2GB. Now I'm looking to "upgrade" to a 4GB and leave the 2GB as a back up. In my opinion, U3 does works. I am sad to hear about your bad experiences and frustrations and I could only wish you the best of luck.

Regards to all...

I used to have a different flash drive which worked perfectly without making itself run any programs when it opened up, but I let a friend borrow it, and friends do what friends do best. Break it. So, I bought a Cruzer Micro 4gb, and now whenever I plug it in, it just totally freezes and I have to restart my computer. Along with Clint, "Guess what's going back for a refund tomorrow." =P No, really.

I had the same problem with my 4gb sandisk micro cruzer, it was nero version 7 backitup utility that was causing the problem, the solution I found was to rerun the nero setup programme and tell it not to install the backitup utility. When this was done it worked great, no problems whatsoever and tranfers files quickly.

I have two 4MB Titanium Cruzers. Have loved them until lately. No problems at all. Them zap. Instant lock up. Total computer freeze. Both drives. I've got other USB drives; no problems. Pull the drives out, the freeze goes away. They both work fine on my machine at work, so knew it that there was an issue with my system.

They stopped working just after I had installed a new Logitech MX 5500 Revolution keyboard and mouse, so I've been thinking that there was a potential connection. (Logitech is known for lots of extra junk software too! In fact, I've got issues with the Download Manager now and it's triggering a ton of errors when running system backups. Awesome mouse and keyboard. It's their software; again, but that's another issue.)

My search brought me to several sites that don't know what's up with this Cruzer issue, but y'all have it figured pretty good.

I went CTRL > ALT > DELETE > Processes and went to end mim.exe, but the warning that popped up scared me off. I was afraid to stop it; not sure what might break. (Always a warning that scares the heck out of you, but doesn't provide useful information with which to make a decision.) Systems trouble shooting is not my area.

Instead, I went and uninstalled Music Match, which I never use, and I also uninstalled URGE. There was only one mention for URGE, but I don't see why I need it, even though I do use Windows Media Player quite a bit.

Presto. Both 4MB Cruzers fired right up. Good grief! What a PITA! Don't what triggered the freeze-ups. These have both worked perfectly for six months. Looks like I'm back in business. Thanks.

What's the latest word on the 'best practice for handling the U3 launch? Now that everything seems good again, I don't want to go looking for trouble, but should make a few specific tweaks?

Yeah, definitely Musicmatch Jukebox is a problem. Then again, I don't like flash drives automatically running crap, either.

My wife likes the U3 software, so if I have to use her drive, I make sure to clobber mim.exe and any other processes MMJB might have left running, and it seems to work OK.

But for my drive, I just removed all the U3 crap and use it as a plain, old flash drive. You can download an uninstaller from http://www.u3.com/uninstall/ that does just that.

As to why MMJB causes a problem...it's because the U3 stuff makes a fake "CD" drive appear in My Computer. A U3 flash drive grabs TWO drive letters: one as a small read-only partition with the U3 code and one as the read-write flash drive. The read-only partition tells Windows that it's a CD-ROM drive, and Musicmatch tries to query it, thinking that it's a real CD-ROM drive and that the user might want to use it for ripping or burning.

That's what locks everything up. Yes, you can point a finger at MMJB, but U3 is to blame as well. To the user that claims MMJB has a long history of crashing with any removable drive...rubbish. Only removable drives that pull this CD-ROM fakery are a problem.

--chris

Thanks for the kill mim.exe tip. I've been fighting this random freeze up problem with other people's computers since I got my 2GB Cruiser. What a relief to have a solution.

On my own computer I set things NOT to auto run(CDs DVDs etc) so maybe that's why I can have MusicMatch running (I use it lots) and have no problem with my cruiser drives.

Thanks again to this forum for providing a simple solution. I killed the music match processes and bingo, the U3 enabled drives work on a machine that has been a constant frustration.

I tried everything to prevent U3 from freezing up the 'puter. It was MusicMatch causing the conflict. I uninstalled MusicMatch and now Cruzer works fine. So I copied the Cruzer files to another flash that doesn't use U3 and re-installed MusicMatch. I also disabled U3 from loading up (uncheck autorun)

All interesting stories and fixes/possible fixes. I recently bought a Sandisk 8gb w/U3 and it doesn't work on my home PC but it will work on two laptops.
I've read that some "Nero" programs sometimes causes a conflict. My laptops where it works fine both have Nero 6 and INCD on them, the USB drive w/U3 intact still works fine on them.
My desktop where the U3 drive won't work has Nero 8 w/INCD installed on it so I completely uninstalled all the Nero progs. as well as INCD. It still doesn't work so I uninstalled the U3 portion of the USB disk. It still doesn't work on my desktop NOR will it now work on EITHER laptop.
I re-installed the U3 section and it now works on both laptops again but still not on my desktop.
I don't have the Musicmatch that's been mentioned on any of these machines.
I think there is -MANY- various programs that conflict with these USB drives and a person just needs to slowly figure out what the problem ones are, one at a time.
I'm going to get another 8gb but w/out U3 and see what happens w/it.
DW

am using u3 scandisk and remove without stop and if i pluge it back to pc it will indicate innitializing but dot instal wath should i do? thanks

Removed MusicMatch JukeBox and now my SanDisk Cruzer 4GB works fine again. Thanks.

U3 looks great at first on this drive, but my first try crashed my computer. Luckily, I had a backup drive, but it seems like the company should have done better. Be cautious with this drive, at the very least.

this is the worst flash drive ive ever used, nothing shows up that ive saves, ive tried it on dozens of computers. dont buy this flash drive

I plugged my new 1gig SanDisk into my home computer and it crashed windows Explorer. Ever since then, when I open Explorer it takes forever for it to find my drives. Internet and My Documents work just fine. I do not have MusicMatch installed. I tried system restore and that did not work. I can't do anthying on my computer that involved opening files.