Flash drive infections usually involve malware that loads an autorun.inf file into the root folder of all drives (internal, external, removable). When the removable media is inserted, autorun looks for autorun.inf and automatically executes a malicious autorun.bat file which calls wscript.exe to run autorun.vbs on your computer. When a flash drive becomes infected, the Trojan will infect a system when the removable media is inserted if autorun has not been disabled.“Autorun” is the feature built into Windows that automatically runs a program specified by an “autorun.inf” file whenever a CD-ROM, DVD or USB drive is plugged into a Windows-based computer. Autorun is intended as a convenience to automatically start an installer when removable media is inserted into the computer.
Keeping Autorun enabled on USB and other removable drives has become a significant security risk due to the increasing number of malware variants that can infect them and transfer the infection to your computer. Read Danger USB! Worm targets removable memory sticks.I recommend disabling the Autorun feature on USB drives as a method of prevention.
The easiest way to disable Autorun on a specific drive is to download and use Tweak UI PowerToy.
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After installation, launch Tweak UI, double-click on My Computer in the tree menu on the left, then click on AutoPlay > Drives. This will allow you to change the system settings for AutoPlay/autorun.
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Uncheck the drives you want to disable AutoPlay on and click on Apply.
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Next, click on the Types in the left tree. This allows you to control whether Autoplay is enabled for CD and DVD drives and removable drives. You may need to restart Tweak UI if it closes after step 2.
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Uncheck the box to disable Autoplay for a particular type of drive.
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Click Apply.
See “Disable Autorun/AutoPlay” for instructions with screenshots.
When Autorun is disabled, double-clicking a drive which has autorun.inf in its root directory may still activate Autorun so be careful.Always scan USB Flash Drives after they have been used in other computer systems, even your own. An easy way to do this is to download “ClamWin Portable“, install it on your USB Flash Drive, update its definition files and perform a scan.
Another prevention measure you can use is to download Symantec’s NoScript utility. Scroll down to the section “How to disable (or re-enable) the Windows Scripting Host” to find the link and follow the instructions. Noscript will disable the Windows Scripting Host and prevent VBScripts from running on your machine until you run the utility again.
March 20, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Ive written blog about removing the autorun.inf virus http://andback.wordpress.com
also talks about removing those viruses which even the antivirus cant remove and to revert back to settings prior to infection.
Hope this helps too.
April 3, 2008 at 4:54 pm
hi,
this is srajal saxena.
i need ur help to made a ”autorun.inf ” virus.
can u send me the process of autorun.inf virus that how can i make it?
bye……
October 6, 2011 at 2:18 am
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August 6, 2008 at 7:17 pm
To prevent these kinds of viruses on infecting your PC, you need to disable autorun function in your computer, unfortunately, just shutting down autoplay is not a fix. You might think that you could protect yourself from AutoRun by adding two (2) keys to your Registry (NoDriveAutoRun and NoDriveTypeAutoRun) but these keys can be overridden by some programs.
Solution is here:
1. Start Notepad [Start Menu-All Programs-Accessories-Notepad] or right-click any empty space in your desktop then select New-Text Document
2. Copy the following text. (note: Everything in between the square brackets should be in one line)
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
@=”@SYS:DoesNotExist”
3. Save the file with a name (anything) like DisableAutoRun.reg (The extension .reg is the important part)
4. Double Click your newly created registry file. Choose yes or continue to the warning that will appear.
August 12, 2008 at 7:59 am
Mohit,
Good information. But some people doesnt want to disable the autorun function entirely. So yes, it’s kind of a catch 22.
Thank you
April 15, 2009 at 9:01 am
you can disable autoplay in all drives by typing in run program..type “GPEDIT.MSC” and follow the first letters i will be given…CAST…thats all!!bye
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