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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ativa: Bad Dog, January 10, 2007
After 2 evenings of computer crashes and frustration, I have figured out how to make this junk work in my computer. My bottom line advice: do not buy thius USB flash drive from Ativa.
When you first insert this thing, it will give you many screens, warnings, etc. If you try to use any of these, the USB will automatically call up IE to talk to a website. Why, I do not know. The computer I used it in has IE disabled and is not hooked up to the internet. So, every time the USB called up IE, the computer froze, needing a warm re-start.
You are more or less obligated to access the USB via the supplied interface. This 'security inteface' is really cleverly disguised ad-ware. It will give you many warnings about security and functional deficiencies, and invite you to 'sign-up' to improve the 'free' included security applications via website and credit card. At first, I assumed that this flash drive had infected my PC with a virus, Trojan Horse, etc. Since I was not able to simply use the flash drive memory.
I finally figured out how to make this flash drive work, but my advice is to not buy it, even if it is offered at a deep discount.
The memory is a half gig, but the 'free' applications suck up 100 megs, so what you end up with is only 400M. So, when you are thinking of buying this, keep in mind that it is really only 50% more memory than a 256M flash drive.
Technical note: I tried to simply delete the 'free' applications to free up memory, like I routinely do to Sandisk flash drives. This Ativa, however, would not let me do this. As far as I can tell, it comes from the factory already partitioned into 2 different drives: a 400M one for your memory use, and a 100M partition where the chip stores its 'free' security applications. When you insert this USB flash drive, it automatically creates a virtual CD-Rom device where the Ativa stores it's 'free' software. I am a power user, but have no knowledge of partitioning, so could not undo this memory-wasting partition to get my full money's worth (not exactly true: I opened up Device Manager, clicked on the fake CD-ROM icon, and right-clicked and checked a box that said 'do not use this device', and then immediately went to the drive and deleted the programs in the root; I have since been able to use all the memory with none of those security warnings / interfaces / nag screens).
Modus Vivendi
I learned that when you first insert it, you will get 3 warnings and boxes telling you about problems, deficiencies, begging you to click on one of them. Just ignore them and think of them as the traditional 'nag' screens and either ignore them, or close them via task bar, upper right X button, or control panel. Open up Windows Explorer, and simply start using it, ignoring all the screens and warnings.
Now that I have trained this bad dog to behave more or less correctly, these are my thoughts. I usually use Sandisk. I miss the happy, warm, fuzzy, green LED that tells me what the flash drive is up to. The Ativa has a small, red LED that is usually off, and in a phyiscal position (side of the drive rather than the visible edge) so I cannot see it in action, so it is hard to tell what the Ativa is up to just by looking at the light. Like the sandisk, it has the happy habit of occupying only one USB port due to its small size. I also appreciate that it has an integral cover, unlike the Sandisk that has an easy to lose plastic thing-a-ma-bob; you just pull, flip, push, and insert.
Postscript. I can attest to the fact that this flash drive has survived the proverbial trip through the washing machine and dryer. It still works, and seems to be none the less worse for wear.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Ativa Drive Waste of Money!!!!, April 2, 2009
The Ativa 8 gigabyte drive i just bought failed after just 1 use!!! All the data i had stored on it was irreplaceable. The drive crashed my computer and then now refuses to ever read again. This is the most awful experience i have ever had with a product, i'd return it but i'm still trying to recover my data somehow. NEVER BUY ATIVA PRODUCTS!!!!! THEY ARE COMPLETE GARBAGE!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
What a rip off!, September 5, 2008
'Bought this for my son right before school started. The very first time he used it, he found that it wouldn't save his documents once it was removed from the computer. 'Called the company to exchange it for one that wasn't defective and get this - they don't guarantee the quality of their flashdrives (NO WARRANTY AT ALL). They said to return it to the store within 14 day for a refund [too late for me :]. What kind of company doesn't guarantee the quality of their products? Stay away from this one!
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