Best tool or way to clean an usb pen

[Avast Eagle]

Even formating i notice some space in it being used, so wanted to know your opinions about it.

Since Off Topic is gone, this was best place to ask, hope its ok.

[Eddy]

Ofcourse some space is used. Every storage device uses some space to store info of the drive/disk/etc and there must be room to store a "index" (FAT) to keep track of what data is where on the device.

The actual capacity is not the same as the reported capacity.
See THIS article.

[Avast Eagle]

Ok thanks for the info, now i know when formating theres always around 5mb or less being used for a reason xD

[scythe944]

Oh, I thought you meant that you had a virus on a USB Pendrive, and you wanted it to be cleaned off.

Well, to anyone else that needs to "clean" a USB drive you can use this: http://blog.didierstevens.com/programs/usbvirusscan/

[DavidR]

I would also suggest Flash Drive Disinfector
Download Flash_Disinfector.exe by sUBs from >here< and save it to your desktop.

• Double-click Flash_Disinfector.exe to run it and follow any prompts that may appear.
• The utility may ask you to insert your flash drive and/or other removable drives including your mobile phone. Please do so and allow the utility to clean up those drives as well.
• Wait until it has finished scanning and then exit the program.
• Reboot your computer when done.

Note: Flash_Disinfector will create a hidden folder named autorun.inf in each partition and every USB drive plugged in when you ran it. Don't delete this folder...it will help protect your drives from future infection.

Also see this link for more information on Flash Disinfector, http://experi3nc3.wordpress.com/2007/05/10/flash-disinfector-by-subs/

[Avast Eagle]

Thanks i used DavidR one since my Hard Disk Usb could be infected (never know)

http://blog.didierstevens.com/programs/usbvirusscan/ <-- this one i didnt figure out well how to use it xD

[DavidR]

It is simply a means of calling your own AV to scan the USB when you plug it in.

You have to have the usbvirusscan program running (either on boot or manually started) so that when you plug in a usb drive avast would scan all of it automatically and not just files that are run. The file used to do the scan is C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick.exe, that is what has to be entered in the usbvirusscan settings.

Personally I don't like having the usbvirusscan program running all the time, when it is a very rare that I plug-in a USB and more so one that has been connected to another computer; so I start usbvirusscan just before I would plug in a usb of a suspect source (e.g. one that I haven't had total control over).

There are downsides too as if you had the usbvirusscan running and you plugged in an external USB Hard Disk then ashQuick.exe would scan that, could be waiting a while for that to complete

[Avast Eagle]

It is simply a means of calling your own AV to scan the USB when you plug it in.

You have to have the usbvirusscan program running (either on boot or manually started) so that when you plug in a usb drive avast would scan all of it automatically and not just files that are run. The file used to do the scan is C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashQuick.exe, that is what has to be entered in the usbvirusscan settings.

Personally I don't like having the usbvirusscan program running all the time, when it is a very rare that I plug-in a USB and more so one that has been connected to another computer; so I start usbvirusscan just before I would plug in a usb of a suspect source (e.g. one that I haven't had total control over).

There are downsides too as if you had the usbvirusscan running and you plugged in an external USB Hard Disk then ashQuick.exe would scan that, could be waiting a while for that to complete

lol another reason why i only checked with the flash drive desinfector, just did for the try as i was almost sure it wasnt infected, but since its simple i still have the flash drive desinfector stored now, seems it can be useful later.

If theres any updates on it let me know xD

[DavidR]

Well the Flash Disinfector is a one off tool, it doesn't stay resident, it just creates that hidden protected autorun.inf 'folder' to help prevent the placement of an autorun.inf 'file' in either hard disk partitions or USB drives you have run Flash Disinfector when they were plugged into your system.

So it is passive and won't prevent other USBs getting infected and trying (probably unsuccessfully) to infect your system, but they will still be infected, so the other tool has its uses in scanning the new USB for infection.

[Avast Eagle]

ok how do i configure that to run on boot then? also if that must run everytime i boot my comp its kinda anoying xD, i presume i only need one time to scan it, i need details on how to make that run on boot, the explanation is skiping details on how to make it work... 0.0; im kinda lost on how to make it start scaning lol...

[DavidR]

I believe it is on that page link above, essentially by making a shortcut and copying it into the startup folder, but as I said before for the amount of time that you might use it, is it worth running all the time, if not simply create a desktop shortcut and start it before you insert a USB drive.

[Lisandro]

Otaku Ichise, to protect your USB drive (protection is better than cure...) use USB Firewall, which is compatible with other full firewall running in your computer.