ADVERTISEMENT
	Home & Business Computer Repair | My Computer Works My Computer Works keeps your technology running smoothly. With computer repair support and tech solutions for home and small business, we’re the fast, friendly experts you can count on.

FREEWARE SPOTLIGHT

By Deanna McElveen

Everyone is walking around with the storage of a 1990s supercomputer in their pockets. Jingling around with the pennies and nickels, flash drives are an old-school data thief’s best friend.

Remember those first computer-hacker movies where the thief, spy, or 14-year-old had only a few minutes to copy a file from a computer before being caught red-handed? Oh, the suspense of watching that file-copy window slowly progress as the floppy drive ground away.

Well, today — with our ultra-fast USB ports and flash drives — that kid has got time to spare after stealing your entire email database file, your unencrypted text file of passwords, or your secret plans for world domination. It also provides a quick way for a user to accidentally or purposely introduce malicious software to a computer.

Sordum.org has a great, free tool called Ratool that is just the thing you need to prevent external storage devices from being used on your Windows computer. Not just on your computer, but on any computer for which you are responsible. And, unlike most of these types of programs, Ratool will let you decide which storage devices are okay.

“But Deanna, there are hundreds of these free USB-blocking programs out there.” Yes, there are; but the problem with those is that they all block in the same way. If you block your USB ports with one program, someone else can just use another program to unblock them. Ratool does it differently. Only Ratool can disable Ratool.

Hop over to OlderGeeks.com, grab a copy of Ratool, and let’s take it for a spin!

The download is a zip file, so right-click it and choose to extract it. There are two .exe files. Ratool_x64.exe is what most of you will be using. (Ratool.exe is for a 32-bit operating system.) Run the file, and allow the usual Microsoft warnings. The program is portable — no install needed.

The first window (see Figure 1) displays the “nuclear options”: Allow Read & Write for all external storage devices, Allow Read Only, or Block all of them. If you are in charge of a public-use computer, such as in a library, this first Window may be all you need if you just want to block every device.

Figure 1. The first window is just a quick way to block all devices.

Once you pick an option and click Apply Changes, you will be prompted to either restart the computer or unplug any USB storage devices and then reinsert them (see Figure 2).

Obviously, if you choose to block all USB storage devices, the ones you are reinserting won’t work now.

Figure 2. After making your choice, either restart the computer or replug in the devices.

Now that you have blocked what you need to block, go to the Settings drop-down menu and click Change Password (see Figure 3). There is no password by default, so the first time you do this, you are creating your password. Revisit this in the future to change your password.

Figure 3. None of this matters if you don’t password-protect the settings.

In the latest version of Ratool, the authors made the password encryption very secure. Neither you nor anyone else will be hacking this password, so don’t forget it. That said, check the Show Password checkbox (see Figure 4) to be sure you are typing the password you want. Also, create a Password Hint so that if you do misplace the password, the hint might ignite your brain into remembering it.

One more time — DO NOT FORGET THE PASSWORD!

Figure 4. Don’t forget to include a hint that only you will understand.

Now that we are through the simple use of Ratool, let’s look under the hood and see what it can really do.

Click the Options drop-down menu (see Figure 5) to access the bells and whistles.

Figure 5. The Options drop-down menu is where the extra abilities live.

Starting from the top:

Figure 6. You can also block optical, floppy, and tape drives. Even WPD devices!

One more thing I want to mention — this program is free. The authors could have just said, “Welp, it’s done. I hope everyone reads our language.” But they didn’t (see Figure 7). They translated Ratool into 31 languages! I just think that is awesome.

Figure 7. When you care about your craft enough to translate it into 31 languages

And that is Ratool. Even if you don’t need it now, grab a copy so you won’t forget where you found it!

Want a super easy, free, and portable way to make files and programs start when your computer starts? Auto Start Tool (also from Sordum.org) is just the tool you need (see Figure 8). It gives you three ways to do this — using a scheduled task, adding to the Startup Folder, or using the Run Registry key.

Get it on your flash drive. You will appreciate it later. Download Auto Start Tool from OlderGeeks.com

Figure 8. Auto Start Tool makes adding startup items as easy as pie.

Happy computing!

Our entire philosophy at OlderGeeks is built on being a safe download site offering software you can trust. We use every program we consider, checking it carefully for bundleware or other sneaky stuff. Every downloadable is checked with VirusTotal and Malwarebytes. If a program is updated, we do the same checks again. We reject more programs than we accept, always stressing quality and safety over padding our collection. Every program mentioned in this article meets our rigorous standards. We’re as trustworthy as Grandma’s apple pie!

Join the conversation! Your questions, comments, and feedback about this topic are always welcome in our forums!

Deanna and Randy McElveen are celebrating more than a decade of running OlderGeeks.com, over two decades in the computer business, and even more than that putting up with each other. Their computer store is in a small town in the Missouri Ozarks. Believing that happy customers are always the best advertisement, they hope to squeeze in a couple more decades doing the same.

ADVERTISEMENT

You’re welcome to share! Do you know someone who would benefit from the information in this newsletter? Feel free to forward it to them. And encourage them to subscribe via our online signup form — it’s completely free!

Enjoying the AskWoody newsletter? Become a PLUS member and get it all! Don’t miss any of our great content about Windows, Microsoft, Office, 365, PCs, hardware, software, privacy, security, safety, useful and safe freeware, and Susan Bradley’s popular and sought-after patch advice. PLUS, these exclusive benefits: Every article, delivered to your inbox MS-DEFCON Alerts, delivered to your inbox Access to MS-DEFCON text alerts delivered to your phone Total access to the archive of nearly two decades of newsletters No ads Identification as a Plus member in our popular forums We’re supported by donations — choose any amount for a one-year membership.