Mar 21 2008
Disable Autorun for better security
This brief tutorial teaches you how to disable Autorun to better protect yourself from malwares spreaded via USB flash drives and other removable media on Windows PCs.
Procedure
1. Open the run dialog box (Windows key + R) and type gpedit.msc and press OK. On Windows Vista systems with UAC enabled, click Continue when prompted.
2. Navigate through the tree as shown in the image below (click for larger image):
3. Disable autorun for all drives:
4. Press OK and restart your computer.
Applies to
Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003, Windows Vista and Windows 2008.
Background Information
One of the most common vector for malware spread is portable drives (USB flash driver, memory card, portable hard disks, etc). By default, Windows Explorer will search for a file known as Autorun.inf whenever you insert a removable media (CD, DVD, Flash drive etc) into your computer. When the file is found, Windows will then execute commands in Autorun.inf (such as running a certain application on the disk).
Before flash drives were ubiquitous, only CDs and DVDs used Autorun, usually to provide users better installation or demonstration experience. Unfortunately, malicious users now exploit this feature by writing a piece of code that creates a copy of itself on writable removable media whenever they are inserted into the infected computer.
When the infected media is opened run on another computer, the malicious code will execute itself via Autorun without user intervention. This cycle repeats itself until a pandemic evokes.
Disclaimer: The processes outlined in this tutorial may involve registry modification, system file modification, and/or system settings modification. The author will not be held responsible for any damage or loss caused by the usage of this tutorial.