I am sure everybody has had at least one experience of getting their Windows corrupt because of a faulty flash drive. The first sign that a USB is getting affected by a virus is when it can’t be removed safely from the device panel. While many people don’t pay attention to removing the device safely, it is highly recommended by experts and for some solid reasons.
When any operating system detects a USB plug into its motherboard, it creates a write cache to get better performance and speedy data transfer from your computer. If you yank it out without safely removing it, a part of cache remains in the OS and you have no idea what to do with it. On the other hand if you remove the USB safely, the OS flushes the cache and there is no unwanted packet of data left for the computer to deal with and you get your drive out safe and sound.
Mac and Linux both use write cache by default, but Windows as usual has its own way to deal with this problem. Microsoft doesn’t allow write cache for removable devices because the users have the tendency of yanking them out with no regard for the cache. Nevertheless, despite this pre-empting, there is still a danger from these devices if not safely removed. So, We would recommend that you change the write cache settings for your USB drive by going to the Disk Drives section in the Device Manager and click “Better performance” to enable the safely remove option. But, remember that you should always remove the USB after enabling this, or otherwise the leftover write cache can corrupt your OS.
Many of us are forced to remove the device unceremoniously after the famous error “file is in use” appears when we attempt to safely remove it. In our experience, Windows starts getting corrupt after you take the USB out after such a problem. But how do you end that program that is locked on to your USB? You can try the Task Manager, but it isn’t really recommended. Another safer way is to use an Unlocker software that can unlock files that are in use. Afterwards, you can safely remove the flash drive and take it out. So, despite many people claiming that it is no big deal, pulling the USB out without safely removing it can cause some problems. It’s a good habit to develop and you should practice it if you consider your data valuable.