Computer on a stick from MS

Redmond Pie reports.

During the company's Digital Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft took the wraps off a USB stick, which it believes will make it easier for Windows users to almost take their PCs with them, meaning they can have all their documents and apps follow them around via the wonders of USB - assuming they all amount to less than 32GB of data, that is.

This version of Windows 8 has been dubbed “Windows To Go” and the user's apps and settings can be mounted on a 32GB USB drive so that the user can turn any machine into his/her home computer, BGR explains.

Microsoft thinks this could be a neat way for corporate users to access their data on multiple PCs. Previous embedded versions of Windows have also supported booting from USB, but with Windows To Go, Microsoft has managed to bake in the entire Windows 8 OS onto a USB drive as a fully functional PC.

Microsoft has added a lot of security functionality to Windows to Go, such as a security feature that pauses the whole system if the USB drive is detached, to prevent data loss, and if the USB drive is not reattached in 60 seconds, the PC shuts down so that the data stored on the RAM cannot be displayed. It will also be possible to encrypt Windows To Go using Bitlocker technology.