Hello Thierry and Toril,
As you mentioned, a really easy way to cut down on shuttling USB, is a USB switch.
Had a Black Friday sales event here, $20 for a IOGEAR GUB212 2-Port USB 2.0 Peripheral Sharing Switch.
Using it between the SX-900 and my PC, and works very smoothly! It comes packaged with 2 cables for interconnection, but they are really short, so I purchased longer 3 foot cables, and it's just right. The USB stick plugs directly into a port on the back.
Pretty simple, there are just 2 push buttons that click very solidly, looks reliable.
Jerry