Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: USBcontrol
Don Bradbury looks at free management software to monitor your USB peripherals
| Product | USBcontrol |
|---|---|
| Company | Adaptec |
| Web | www.adaptec.com |
| Price | Freeware |
| We like | Useful information |
| We don't like | Needs Adaptec USB2 controller |
| Rating | 7/10 |
| Requirements |
I don't know about you, but right at this moment I have no less than seven items of USB gear hanging off my system, with provision for up to thirteen. I also have system and hub ports running under both USB 1.1 and 2.0 protocols to complicate the issue. It was getting to the point where I could use some diagrammatic help in following the connections and functionality of all that lot.
Well Adaptec have just brought out a rather snazzy program that does just that. You'll need to have one of the Adaptec USB 2.0 controllers installed and operational, and then download the freebie 2.4MB USBcontrol.exe self-extracting archive file from ftp.adaptec.com.
Just extract that to a suitable folder, and then click on the USBcontrol icon that's popped into your System Tray. This stay-on-top (if you want) grouping of icons that represents all your USB gear, both 1.1 and 2.0 protocol, can be customized to alter the item labels, the choice of icon and its colouring, and so on.
It can also be minimised to show just the item of gear you want to monitor at a particular time. Otherwise it shows up to five items in a list that is scrollable to include the rest, the default item being made the one most likely to require monitoring.
Three views of your USB system, showing Device, System, or Monitoring, can be selected according to want you want the program to do. If you want to see the layout and wiring, with hub and item locations, then you select Device view. In System view you can check the functionality of each item of USB gear hanging off your system, get a report of the efficiency of the item, and also get any updates from the web.
Monitoring view gives you important power requirement information, as well as troubleshooting reports on any device not functioning correctly. For example, if you inadvertently have a USB 2.0 device plugged into a USB 1.1 port, the data throughput rate will be down and this view will tell you about it.
The program also features virtual LEDs to indicate (by flashing) that data is being transported correctly between any selected device and your system. If performance proves to be substandard for any reason, it will be flagged for your attention. A tick by each item shows that each is functional.
You can ask for the install routine to load USBcontrol at startup if you wish, though it's easily available from the System Tray.
In conclusion
Users of Adaptec USB 2.0 PCI hubs, such as the DuoConnect PCI USB 2.0 and Firewire combo card reviewed recently, can get very useful information about their system from USBcontrol. It's well worth a few minute's download. It's a pity is can't monitor Firewire connections as well, but it's not designed for that.
