Identity swap

When Jim Benson opened up his web browser one day, he discovered that he was someone else. One of the perils of using borrowed hardware to establish a temporary identity is that if you are not really careful, you can leave quite a bit of your identity behind.

This is as good a reason as any to put your temporary identity on a thumb drive, so that you don't leave droppings behind that cause confusion (or worse). Jeremy Wagstaff's Directory of Programs Designed for USB Drives is a good place to start for mostly Windows setups; Lifehacker's Carry your life on a thumb drive is good too.

Comments

[Andrea]

Good, so long as you don't lose your thumb drive! On a related note, I've heard that keeping your life on your thumb drive is a pretty common practice in developing countries where most Internet access is through Internet cafes.

On the other hand, I've also read an eyebrow-raising report about the potential risks of USB drives for carrying viruses. The study found that people would usually load up a found USB drive onto their machines, thereby becoming vulnerable to Trojan horses, etc.