axialforge/usbsentry

USBSentry is a small Windows 11 tray app that keeps an eye on every USB device plugged into your computer. It runs quietly in the system tray, and the moment you plug something new in, it lets you know and logs the event. The main window shows a live list of connected devices, including each one's type, status, manufacturer, and hardware ID. For serial devices like an ESP32 or Arduino board, it shows the COM port, for USB drives, it shows the drive letter, so you do not have to dig through Windows Device Manager to find that information. New device alerts can appear as a Windows toast notification, an in-app banner, or a sound, and each of these can be turned on or off separately. There is also an unrecognized-device mode: once turned on, USBSentry treats everything already plugged in as trusted and only alerts you when something unfamiliar shows up, matched by its hardware ID rather than which port it is in. Right-clicking a device lets you trust, untrust, or hide it, and right-clicking a serial device gives a shortcut to copy its COM port or a ready-made flash command for tools like esptool. The app supports dark, light, or Windows-matched themes, adjustable text size, and keeps a history log you can export. You can either download a ready-made executable from the releases page or run it from source with Python, using pip to install two required packages. Since the executable is not code-signed, Windows SmartScreen may show a warning the first time you run a downloaded copy. The README explains how to get past that warning. Under the hood, USBSentry works by running the built-in Get-PnpDevice command, filtering results to the USB bus, and comparing each scan to the previous one. It needs no special drivers and no admin rights. The project is licensed under Apache License 2.0, which allows free use, modification, and commercial distribution as long as the copyright notice is kept.