U3 Launchpad

U3 Launchpad: Portable USB Flash Drive for Accessing Apps and Filess

U3 Launchpad is a USB flash drive that allows you to launch applications and access your files and settings from any Windows computer. It provides a portable environment with apps, tools, settings without installing anything on the host computer.

What is U3 Launchpad?

U3 Launchpad is a proprietary software platform that allows users to install portable applications on U3-compliant USB flash drives. It was developed by SanDisk and M-Systems, and released in 2006.

The main feature of U3 Launchpad is that it creates a secure portable desktop on the USB drive. When a U3 flash drive is plugged into a Windows computer, an icon will appear that prompts the user to launch the U3 environment. This loads a custom menu from which users can launch apps, open files, and access their settings just as if they were using their own computer.

Some key benefits of U3 Launchpad include:

• Portability - Carry your apps, docs, settings wherever you go on the flash drive
• Security - It does not leave data traces on host computer
• Convenience - No need to install apps on each computer you use

The platform uses a protected partition on the flash drive to store app and user data separately from normal flash storage. It allows third-party developers to write U3-compatible apps using HTML, XML, JavaScript and other web techs. Popular apps include business tools like Skype and OpenOffice.org.

While innovative at launch, U3 Launchpad usage has declined significantly since the evolution of cloud drives, mobile computing and platform-independent apps. The U3 platform was discontinued in 2014, but existing U3 drives can still be used to run apps supporting older versions of Windows.

U3 Launchpad Features

Official Links