USBDeview is a portable software application that lets you view a comprehensive history of all USB devices that ever connected to your computer, such as names/descriptions/types (mass storage devices have serial numbers) added date/times as well as VendorID and ProductID information about each item.
Information about USB devices
USBDeview allows you to monitor all of the devices currently connected to your computer or that have been used in the past. At startup, USBDeview displays a list of these devices with detailed information for each. This may include device type, description, serial number (for mass storage devices), vendor ID number and last plug/unplug date for each item.
USBDeview also allows you to perform various tasks related to these devices, including enabling or disabling their drivers, changing drive letters or conducting speed tests for reading and writing data. Furthermore, you can even disable autoplay function for certain USB devices. Lastly, USBDeview features an HTML report generator which makes communicating with tech support easier when there are issues to be resolved.
USBDeview is a straightforward utility with an uncluttered GUI that displays a list of all connected USB devices at startup. Filters and sorting options enable you to narrow the list down further according to multiple criteria, while in the right pane you can view additional information about individual devices, including driver, serial number, vendor name as well as date/time when they were first installed onto your system.
If you are using a USB flash drive, the “Data” tab shows all transferred data. For USB-to-serial converters and other hardware pieces, however, viewing their current firmware version in “Device Drivers” tab provides valuable insight.
USBDeview’s main window contains another tab for monitoring all event logs related to USB connections. Here you can choose what levels and date range to display for events, or create your own custom list of computers from which USB activity should be monitored – these must be Ascii text files with computer names separated by colon/semicolon characters, space characters or tab characters; furthermore this program also lets you specify notifications when new devices connect/eject as well as customizing columns/headers of its list view.
Uninstalling USB devices
USBDeview provides a detailed history of each and every USB device connected and then removed, including description, type, status (safe to unplug status), last plug/unplug date (for mass storage devices), VendorID/ProductID information as well as driver version numbering details.
USBDeview can also be used remotely to monitor all USB activity on a remote computer in real-time, provided you login with full administrator rights to that machine. In order to utilize this feature, full administrative access must be granted in order for this feature to function effectively.
USBDeview’s File menu differs from most NirSoft programs by offering an option to export the list of connected USB devices into a text file quickly and efficiently, providing a handy way to quickly save an easy list of both currently connected USB devices as well as devices which have previously been disconnected.
USBDeview’s next great feature is its ability to stop and disconnect specific USB devices by entering their name or description into a text box. For instance, if you wish to stop/disconnect Kingston DataTraveler 2.0 drives from your computer, simply enter their name or description into the text box and they will be stopped/disconnected automatically from your PC.
USBDeview provides additional useful details about each USB device in its “Device Properties” window, accessible by right-clicking on the mouse button. This information includes items such as installation date/time and plug/unplug time – this feature is particularly beneficial when dealing with mass storage devices like flash memory drives or CD/DVD drives, since you’re easily able to determine when they were plugged in and whether or not they should be taken off from their USB port.
USBDeview offers many advanced options, such as decoding serial numbers and displaying them in Ascii format, or only showing devices with certain drivers installed on a computer. Not to mention its free nature and ease of use! Using this utility helps keep an overview of all USB devices used on a computer.
Disabling USB devices
The USBDeview utility displays information about all USB devices connected to a computer at some point in time and allows the user to manage these devices by disabling or enabling individual ones. NirSoft offers this freeware program as part of their selection of useful utilities.
The program is portable, meaning it can be used on multiple computers without installing separate versions of software. Its primary objective is to track historical USB connection data such as when each device was added to the system as well as its vendor ID and product ID; this can prove invaluable when trying to trace down problematic USB devices.
USBDeview provides users with the capability to create desktop shortcuts for disabling or enabling specific USB items. This feature can be useful for people who frequently work with the same USB item and don’t wish to manually enable/disable them each time they connect to their machine; however, please keep in mind that each shortcut created only applies to one item selected at once – other items won’t function. It is important to remember that using “Disable+Enable Selected Devices” option (/disable_enable and /enable_enable command-line options) may take several minutes, depending on number of selected items.
USBDeview stands out from other similar tools with its additional functionality, including the ability to determine whether it is safe to unplug a device and create desktop shortcuts that will disable or enable specific USB items.
USBDeview supports various versions and operating systems of Windows, including 98, 2000 and XP. It even works on systems with User Account Control turned on; for optimal use however it should be right-clicked and selected ‘Run As Administrator’ so as to allow USBDeview to effectively remove or uninstall USB items and monitor file activity by tracking dates/times when files change.
Exporting information
USBDeview is a free and extremely useful program that gives you detailed information about all USB devices connected to your computer, whether or not they are currently being used. It shows extended data for each device such as its name/description, device type, serial number for mass storage devices (where applicable), date/time when added to computer, VendorID and ProductID numbers as well as speed tests in terms of reading/writing performance. Plus it’s capable of working remotely if logged in as an admin user!
One of the key advantages of this program is its ability to export all USB device activity as an HTML file that can be opened by any web browser – especially useful if you need to report USB device activity for any reason to tech support.
Save a list of active USB devices on your computer using several formats, such as regular text file, tab delimited file or an XML file. There’s even an ‘Retrieve USB Power/Version Information’ feature to keep track of them all!
As for the user interface (UI), it is classic in nature and comprises of a standard window which lists all USB devices connected at startup time. Their information is presented as columns which can easily be resized to reveal or hide additional elements as necessary; among these columns are device name/description, status (connected/safe to unplug), drive letter and device type – with one column also showing which USB hub/port it was plugged into.
All these features come together to give you greater oversight and management over all your USB devices, and can even assist in more efficiently controlling them. Download it immediately from Nirsoft’s website free of charge!
