Whenever you connect a USB to your computer, it creates registry entries and leaves traces behind. Over time, I am sure you may have connected many different USB or Flash drives to your Windows computer, and every time you did so, it created different registry entries.
Erase all traces of old connected USB Drives
Most such traces are usually left behind in the following registry keys:
- System\controlset\
- CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceContainers
- CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceClasses
- Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\MuiCache
All these traces pile up, and even registry cleaners may miss them.
These entries can let others view which USB drives had been connected to your PC. One such tool that lets you do so easily is USBDeview from Nirsoft. It is a small utility that lists all USB devices that are currently in use and those that have been previously used on your computer.
A point may then come that from a privacy point of view, you may want to delete these traces.
USBOblivion for Windows PC
USBOblivion is a portable freeware that is designed to erase all traces of USB-connected drives and CD-ROMs from the Windows registry. The first time you run USBOblivion, make sure that the Do real clean box is unchecked. This will only scan your computer and list the entries. This is the test mode of operation.
Once you are sure that you want to clean the traces, remove or disconnect your USB Drives, check the Do real clean box and click on Clean. By default, the save backup .reg file check-box is selected. This is good, as before removing the traces from the registry, they get backed up in the form of a .reg file, which is saved in the user’s Documents folder. Should you need it, you can always restore the deleted keys using this backup.
USB Oblivion download
You can download USB Oblivion from here. It worked just fine on my Windows 10 64-bit. Remember to create a system restore point first so that you can restore your computer if necessary.
You may also want to check out GhostBuster. It lets you remove old, unused, ghosted, hidden device drivers in Windows.
