Why do I need to use the 'Safely Remove Hardware' function, if it is possible to enable the "Optimize for quick removal" option? We know two reasons to use safe removal.

1. To eliminate a special feature of the human brain - forgetfullness. If you always indulge in pulling out your USB stick without safe removal, you will forget ocassionally that you have opened a document from your stick where you made a lot of changes and data might be lost.
2. Any device, especially complex devices such as USB hard drives, can be damaged, as a result of sharp voltage swings.

Also you might like to read this article on cnet.com

The most common reason is that a running program has 'opened' files on your device drive. This quite often happens even when you have closed all the programs on your desktop - the device can still be locked. It is probably locked by one of the background processes running on your computer, ie. it might be your antivirus or another "anti-" software (anti-malware, anty-spyware and etc). USB Safely Remove allows you to detect any cause of device locking and to eliminate the source of the problem easily.

USB Safely Remove replaces the native 'Safely Remove Hardware' icon in the system tray by its own icon. The program's default display icon is more clear and straightforward and helps in the management of all removable devices. It makes program behaviour more predictable for the user.
If you want the icon to hide itself when there are no devices to be stopped, just enable the option "Hide icon when there are no devices to be stopped". You can find this option at the tab "Look and Feel" of the 'program options' dialog.

You cannot remove devices from the native 'Safely Remove Hardware' menu, but USB Safely Remove allows you to remove any device with just one movement. Just launch the 'quick stop' menu, right-click the device, and choose the item "Hide device from the tray menu" in the device context menu.

Sometimes Windows does not display some of hotpug devices, such as SATA, IEE1394 (Firewire). However there is a trick which you can use to stop such "invisible" devices:

1. Go to the Device Manager (Start button -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware tab -> Device Manager button)
2. Find your device in the "Disk drives" section
3. Right click the selected device and choose "Disable item" from the displayed menu.

Please note!

If there are not any programs with 'opened' files on the device drive, the device's icon will be marked as disabled. If the system requests you to reboot, do not believe your eyes! - Actually, it means that there is something preventing the device from being stopped - one or more programs that have opened files on the drive. Just close these files and repeat the operation again.

If you often need to unplug such devices you can take a look at USB Safely Remove - guaranteed safe removal in one click.

By default the program displays the 'quick stop' menu on hotkey pressing, where you can choose the required device using the keyboard. But if you usually have only one removable device connected at a time, you will probably prefer to use the "Stop immediatelly" option (see the "Hotkeys" tab of the 'program options' dialog). After enabling this option, the program will stop a device immediatelly after pressing Win+S hotkey if there is only one device to be stopped. In other cases it will display the menu.

Just enable the option "Show volume names instead of device names" at the "General" tab of the 'program options' dialog.

Firstly, make sure this device is not listed among the 'hidden devices' ( open the Main window, and see the section "Hidden devices"). Then, go to 'program options', switch to the "General" tab and check the "Display all storage devices" option. After pressing "OK" you will see your device in the 'quick stop' menu together with some other devices that you will never need (and are unable to stop). Just hide them from the menu (this makes things more convenient when working with your portable device).

It's pretty easy - program have a special command line parameters. Find more information.

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Just click here and tell us your question. We will be happy to help you with the use of USB Safely Remove.