Transcend JF220 disables Start menu icons in vista
Just encountered an issue with the Transcend JF220 Secure USB stick. This stick uses a finger print reader to secure the partitioned USB stick.The stick works fine in my Windows XP system but once used with my Vista system I noticed that the main icons off the Start button stopped working. How odd?
I got hold of a utility called ShellExView from Nirsoft which allows you to see which shell extensions are running on your platform and to selectively disable them. Be warned disable them one at a time and only those you suspect. If your not sure ask a PC savvy friend!
Anyway working chronologically backwards- ie newest first I noticed an Icon Handler extension supplied by Arachnoid Biometrics Identification Group Corp. Disabling this restored the icon function onthe start button.
Unfortunately I see no easy way to uninstall this as it has no entry in the Control Panel. Looks like a manual/ registry hack job for later.
I need to look into if there is a fix for this first though. Perhaps an updated driver for the Transcend USB stick.
3 Responses to “Transcend JF220 disables Start menu icons in vista”
Leave a Reply
Theme created by
Here is a review I posted at dabs4work.com after experiencing the same problem:
Inserting the stick on an XP machine creates a new installation here:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\FPAP-EXL600
The following context menus are edited in the registry, causing Explorer behaviour to degrade.
HKCR\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
HKCR\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers
Symptoms
No right-click “Explore” on Windows Start button
Application error “Explorer had to close” message
Remedy
Delete the following entries (for Protect file feature) from the registry and restart the PC to restore normal operation:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FilePtcMenuM.cmContextMenuEXL600]
=”{70267265-13E5-4834-A45A-4CD79AE41FA9}”
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\FilePtcMenuM.cmContextMenuEXL600]
=”{70267265-13E5-4834-A45A-4CD79AE41FA9}”
Can’t make public partition smaller than 31MB.
Finger print reading works well.
Many thanks for that valuable info- I confess since getting mine working I have not followed up on this but there was a post in theregister saying how these sticks are actually flawed in that the fingerprint reading enablement of the protected partition is managed though windows USB control and can be over ridden with a suitable bit code- ie the security relies on windows not resident on the stick. So probably wise not to risk your life on one of these but for general security OK.
I just got one of those for me. It was nice to find the fix for a bug that I didn’t even had realize yet.
I’ll take some further look at flaw with the protected partition… I was thinking about using this usb stick as an extra layer of protection for already encrypted files (I use FreeOTFE at Windows and LUKS at Linux), but depending on how flawed it is it won’t even worth the time of coping the files…
Well.. Thanks!!