After installing Smartware and the drivers on my Windows XP system, I was able to prevent Smartware from loading when I boot by deleting its shortcut from my Startup program group. Now when I connect the Essential, it is assigned a drive letter (see “My Computer” and look under “Hard Disk Drives” and so I can write files to it and read them back.
I still haven’t figured out how to make the Essential work like a USB thumbdrive on other computers on which I have not installed the drivers, however.
