USB+Becomes+Read+Only

In the corporate world, a lot of time is spent on locking down computers to minimize the risk of confidential information leaving the company.  With the popularity of USB storage devices growing in recent years, the problem for large corporations has exploded. Almost all users want to use USB storage devices to move data around, but with the size of USB storage devices increasing so much in recent years, the risk is ever growing as more and more data could possibly be stolen or lost accidentally. Within companies, USB storage devices have been banned completely and disabled from use on company computers. In Windows Vista though, there is an alternative that will allow corporate users to be able to read from USB storage devices, but not write any data to them. This will effectively turn on USB storage devices for all users and they will be safer to use because of the read only feature. This way, users can still read information off USB storage devices that a third party vendor may provide data on, while preventing the employee from writing any data back to the it. To set up a read only USB storage device operation, just follow the steps below.  Now, this tip does require you to work within your registry editor. __So follow my tip on the Registry before going any further __ Be extremely careful while you are doing this. The registry is not difficult to use if you follow the directions exactly, but if you are not 100 percent sure you can do it, please ask someone else for some help.  If you make a mistake in your registry, it could cause you more problems down the road.
 * USB **** Becomes Read Only **

1.) In Vista, click on the **Start** button and type "**regedit**" in the search box and then click **Enter**. 2.) Navigate through to this location: -**HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control**. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">3.) Right click on **Control** and select **New**, then **Key**. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> Call the new key "**StorageDevicePolicies**." <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">4.) Right click on **StorageDevicePolicies** and select **New**, then **Dword**. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Call the new Dword "**WriteProtect**." <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">5.) Right click on **WriteProtect** and select **Properties**. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> Then set the value to **1** and click **OK**. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Your computer is now configured to disable any writing to USB storage devices. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">They __will all be read only__ from now on. <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> Although this tip talks about corporate computers the most, this same configuration can be made for individual desktops for home PC users as well (that is you!) <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;"> It is just another way to keep you safe with the new Windows Vista operating system.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype',serif;">Note: **