What is this e_t TM (program?) in my USB flash drive?

Everytime I plug in my Sandisk USB flash drive in my laptop or any computer (Windows XP), it automatically plays and asks if I want to open my files with e_t (TM). This also happens with my other USB flashdrive as well. It turns out that this also happens with the other flashdrives of my co-workers. Also, when I try to access my flash drive using My Computer by clicking on it, this dialog box would pop up ask me what program I want to open my flash drive with. I have to right-click the drive in order to explore it, which I find very annoying and inconvenient.

This all started when my laptop and the other computers at work and at home got infected with DisMgnt.exe virus a few months ago. We have since removed that virus from our computers but the problem with the flash drives still persists. I have scanned my computer and flash drives with AVG and Ewido anti-spyware but these haven't revealed anything. Any ideas on how to solve this? I'm just an average computer user and I have no idea what is going on. Thanks.

 

Not sure what e_t(TM) is, but I'm guessing it may be some encryption software that came already installed on your flash drive. (If I'm correct then the "TM" in parentheses would indicate that e_t is a trademark -- but it that case it's surprising that I got no hits when I ran e_t through a search engine.)

I have a Memorex flash drive which includes encryption software and when I plug it in I have to first launch the program, called U3, and enter a password before I can see any of the folders and files stored on the device. It's not mandatory to do so with the U3 system though and I can store files and folders on the flash drive without using the U3 encryption.

Maybe e_t stands for "encryption technology"? At any rate I didn't see any mention of e_t(TM) in connection with the virus you mentioned when I looked it up on the web. On the other hand, unless your other flash drive and those of your co-workers are also made by Sandisk it seems unlikely that the same encryption routine is installed on each and every flash drive. So maybe it's something that's installed on your work computers -- i.e. encryption software that your employer's techie's have installed on their systems?

But if it's happening when you plug the flash device into your computer at home also then I don't know what's going on.

If the flash drive belongs to you (rather than being equipment provided by your employer, for example) you could try this. Backup all your data contained on the flash drive to a hard drive or burn it to CD and then format the flash drive. If there is any sort of virus or spyware or other malware on the drive, reformatting it should get rid of it. If after reformatting the flash drive you still see that "Do you want to open your files with e-t(TM)?" prompt when you insert it into a computer, then I'd guess it is in fact part of the firmware built into the flash drive. In that case I'd contact SanDisk to see if they can provide you with some info.

One last thing occurs to me -- is your flash drive a "plain vanilla" flash drive or is it one of those mp3 players which includes flash memory and may also be used as a flash drive for storing data. If the latter is the case, maybe e_t stands for eTunes, software that can be used to organize mp3 files?

Hope this is some help. Good luck!

 

Thanks for replying, I really appreciate the help. Yes, I do have U3 in one of my Sandisk drives but the other one does not. The TM does stand for trademark but I just have no idea what it's doing in my flash drive. Just this week one of my colleagues' flash drive also had that weird e_t TM (his is a generic flash drive with pqi written on it)

My flash drives (and my colleagues') are just the "plain vanilla" flash drives. I haven't reformatted my flash drives but I'll try it sometime and see. If this e_t TM is not a virus then that gives me some relief.

 

Unless the e_t(TM) is part of embedded firmware that is part of the flash drives in question, reformatting them should erase everything on them -- be sure to scan the flash drives for viruses and then back up anything on the flash drive(s) you wish to keep and reformat the devices. Whatever it is that should get rid of it -- unless or until you visit a website or access another file on a computer that has it.

Did you notice Tim's response above? Have you ever visited the website he linked to in his response? Given that site seems to be concerned with downloading music (or people who are interested in doing that) if you've ever visited that site it could be something you picked up there (whether by choice or not).

At any rate, hope reformatting the flash drives gets rid of the thing.

 

When I first got my flash drives, there wasn't any e_t(TM) appearing in the dialog box. I don't download music so I never visited the link that Tim provided until now. I will try reformatting my drive once I completed the hard drive scans. Thanks again for your help, will let you know how reformatting turns out .

 

Hey, the reformatting worked! The e_t TM no longer appears in my flash drive. I'm still wondering how I got it though. Thanks so much for your help

 

Great! Glad reformatting the device took care of the problem. I guess you'll pass the info along to your co-workers? Be sure they understand that it would be best to scan their flash drives for viruses/spyware, then backup any data they wish to keep, and then reformat their flash drives.