I have a PNY Optima Pro Attache 2G flash drive, and when I plug it into my PC with Vista Home Premium, nothing happens. When I go to My Computer, its icon shows up, but when I try to open it or just click on it, Vista crashes ("not responding"). This drive is supposed to be compatible with Vista and not require you to install drivers, so why is it crashing the system?

I know nothing about computers, so any help in layman's terms would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Try the drive in a different port. If your using the front USB ports try using the back ones. I'm also going to include a link to the PNY support site in case you need to have a look yourself:
PNY

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AMD X2 6400+ 3.2GHz BLACK EDITION::SCYTHE SAMURAI COOLER::GA-M51 M/B::3GB DDR2 6400RAM::GEFORCE 8800GTS320/625/900MHz DRIVER '174.74' BETA::160 RAID 0 SATA2::SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY/'DANIELS' DRIVERS::LITE-ON DVD RW/PIONEER DVD::HIPER 530W MODULAR::THERMALTAKE ARMOUR Jr CASE::RAZER COPPERHEAD MOUSE::VISTA HOME PREMIUM SP1

Thank you! I have visited so many forums and nobody suggested this. I didn't even know there was a USB port in the back -- I'd been trying the flash drive in the three different side ports. I plugged it in the back and it worked right away.

Actually, I spoke too soon. It worked briefly -- I copied over some picture files that immediately worked. This is further than I got with any of the other ports. But when I tried to delete a file, the system churned and churned without progressing and finally crashed Vista again. Now, when I try to put the flash drive in the back port, the same thing happens all over -- Vista immediately crashes.

Close but yet so far.... Did you try checking the web site? Maybe they will be able to point you in the right direction. If you get no joy, post back

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AMD X2 6400+ 3.2GHz BLACK EDITION::SCYTHE SAMURAI COOLER::GA-M51 M/B::3GB DDR2 6400RAM::GEFORCE 8800GTS320/625/900MHz DRIVER '174.74' BETA::160 RAID 0 SATA2::SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY/'DANIELS' DRIVERS::LITE-ON DVD RW/PIONEER DVD::HIPER 530W MODULAR::THERMALTAKE ARMOUR Jr CASE::RAZER COPPERHEAD MOUSE::VISTA HOME PREMIUM SP1

in device manager, remove all mass storage and usb ports, reboot, let windows reinstall correctly.
do this without the flash in its port