How to Be Private on a Public Computer: Kingston USB urDrive & Giveaway

by Lori Cunningham

BLACK FRIDAY MONTH!  November marks the celebration of  Black Friday Month.  Every week we will be announcing another chance to win some fun tech giveaways!  Be sure to sign up for our e-mail newsletter so you don’t miss out!  Giveaways going on now:  Dabble   Ritmo in-utero baby sound system ($179 value!).

Thank you to Kingston for sponsoring this review. Please click here to learn more about Kingston. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own.
How many USB thumb drives do you own?  As I have been to many conferences, I have practically a whole drawer full!  So when I saw this opportunity come through my e-mail to review the new Kingston DataTraveler urDrive USB drives I was ready to pass…until something caught my eye.

The Kingston urDrive thumb drives are touted as “active drives,” meaning you can actually install and run programs programs on the USB drive, and even use the browser that is pre-installed.  So I know what you’re thinking, “OK, so what does that mean?”

Let me give you an example.  When I was staying at a Marriott hotel in Dearborn, MI this Summer for the Forward with Ford conference, I used the public computer off the lobby to check my e-mail.  When I was done I signed off.  To my surprise, I received the following e-mail:

Dear Lori,

I stayed at the Deerborn Inn about the same time as you. When I opened the browser at the public computers off the lobby and entered “g-mail”, your e-mail account appeared. I deleted it of course without reading it other than to note you e-mail address to let you know about the incident. I found it difficult to delete my g-mail account when I was finished as I’m sure you did. Eventually I figured it out and deleted the whole cache and re-booted but I thought I’d let you know in case you want to change passwords etc.

John 

I was shocked!  I knew I closed out my account.  I really appreciated the fact that John notified me.  Was this happening at other public computers?

The Kingston urDrive USB, when plugged into a computer, actually gives you your own desktop window, a safe self-enclosed environment that lies on top of whatever computer or laptop you’re working on.  So using the built-in browser, there’s no need to close out your Facebook, e-mail, Twitter accounts, etc. and worry that someone will get in to them.  All you do is remove your urDrive and everything goes with you.

Kingston urDrive Overview:

The Kingston urDrive offers a number of built-in features:

Documents:  You can load your files, from your computer onto the urDrive:

Pictures:  You can load any pictures or photo albums:

You can even play a picture slideshow (and rotate pics) from within your urDrive:

Music:  Add (and play) your favorite tunes:

Apps Store:  There are apps you can get for free and apps you can pay for through the Store:

Kingston even included the ever popular and parent controlled Kidoz software, which provides a safe environment for your kids to see their favorite character online content.

Browser:  The Kingston urDrive is the built-in browser.  The browser uses tabbed browsing and better yet, you can save your favorites and the browser will remember all of your passwords.

Here’s a brief overview of the Kingston urDrive:

On my next trip, I plan on taking my Kingston urDrive with me with no more worries about leaving a ‘footprint” behind of my private information.  I can also see this as a great tool to give your kids their own “desktop” on a computer with less worry of them getting into other data on your shared home computer.

Win it!

Would you like to win a Kingston urDrive USB  to try out for yourself?  How about five of them to use for your family or give to friends???  Win a five pack of Kingston’s DataTravelers 109 with urDrive software!  And in perfect timing for Christmas.  Valued at $50.

TO ENTER

• Fill out the form below.  One entry per person.
• Only USA addresses please.
• The contest ends November 23rd, 12am PST.
• Winners will be chosen by random.org.
• Prize will be fulfilled through the mail.

GET EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN

• Get 1 extra entry for following Well Connected Mom on Facebook.
• Get 1 extra entry for following @wellconnectdmom on Twitter.
• Get 1 extra entry for tweeting on twitter, “I hope to win an “active drive” Kingston urDrive USB from @wellconnectdmom http://bit.ly/uxCPxr”