[PC Basics] Avoiding Viruses the Smart Way: Disabling Autorun Feature
Through the course of this article, I will help you avoid viruses by disabling a system feature that has its roots from the time PCs became mainstream.
VIRUSES & MALWARE
Autorun.inf can be exploited to allow malicious programs to run automatically without the user knowing.
If you have been infected with the autorun.inf virus, each time you insert the removable media and double-click your drive to open it, the virus file begins executing and infects your computer, which spreads itself on to the computer by making multiple copies of the autorun.inf and .exe files on every drive of your computer.
When your computer is infected, viruses might connect to malicious websites and install key loggers on your PC. Key logger steal your private information like usernames, account numbers, social security, passwords, credit card information, as well as other sensitive information.
It is very important that you remove the virus from the computer to avoid further spread.
AVOIDING VIRUSES & SAFETY
In this modern day and age, very few people have any use of this feature and it is best to disable this so as to avoid being infected with a virus that can propagate itself each time the removable media is inserted.
A very useful tool to remove or to nip it in its bud is to disable this feature altogether and not have Autorun run itself when removable media such as DVDs, USB drives, CDs, or Memory Sticks are inserted in the first place.
The easiest way to disable Autorun in just a few minutes and which will potentially save you from getting infected with a virus that takes time (or money) to clean is by downloading the utility “Disable Autorun.”
Click on the link and download and install the tool. Once it's installed, right click the shortcut on the desktop and click Run as Administrator.
Choose from the following options:
Disables AutoRun on drives of unknown type
Disables AutoRun on removable drives
Disables AutoRun on fixed drives
Disables AutoRun on network drives
Disables AutoRun on CD-ROM drives
Disables AutoRun on RAM disks
Disables AutoRun on all kinds of drives
I would recommend that you select all available options and, if you’re not sure of which options to pick, check the option "Disables AutoRun on all kinds of drives."
Click the Apply button and restart your computer to save and apply the changes. Repeat on other computers around you home or send to a friend to do the same.
[Note: this program must be run with administrator privileges, or you can right click the program and click "Run As Administrator" to run this program.]
[Devesh Prabhu is an avid blogger and has been blogging posts and rants on many subjects through his various blogs. He has been associated with the blogosphere for the past 8/9 years and inadvertently left the blogging scene albeit to concentrate on his personal life, but his desire to be among his readers brought him back.]
An autorun.inf file is a text file that can be used by AutoRun and AutoPlay components of Microsoft Windows OS. For the file to be discovered and used by these components, it must be located in the root directory of a volume.
The AutoRun component was introduced in Windows 95 as a way of reducing support costs. AutoRun enabled application CD-ROMs to automatically launch a program which could then guide the user through the installation process.
By placing settings in an autorun.inf file, manufacturers could decide what actions were taken when their CD-ROM was inserted.
The simplest autorun.inf files have just two settings: one specifying an icon to represent the CD in Windows Explorer (or "My Computer") and one specifying which application to run.
A simple example:
[autorun]
open=setup.exe
icon=setup.exe,0
label=My install CD
- Via Wikipedia
VIRUSES & MALWARE
Autorun.inf can be exploited to allow malicious programs to run automatically without the user knowing.
If you have been infected with the autorun.inf virus, each time you insert the removable media and double-click your drive to open it, the virus file begins executing and infects your computer, which spreads itself on to the computer by making multiple copies of the autorun.inf and .exe files on every drive of your computer.
When your computer is infected, viruses might connect to malicious websites and install key loggers on your PC. Key logger steal your private information like usernames, account numbers, social security, passwords, credit card information, as well as other sensitive information.
It is very important that you remove the virus from the computer to avoid further spread.
AVOIDING VIRUSES & SAFETY
In this modern day and age, very few people have any use of this feature and it is best to disable this so as to avoid being infected with a virus that can propagate itself each time the removable media is inserted.
A very useful tool to remove or to nip it in its bud is to disable this feature altogether and not have Autorun run itself when removable media such as DVDs, USB drives, CDs, or Memory Sticks are inserted in the first place.
The easiest way to disable Autorun in just a few minutes and which will potentially save you from getting infected with a virus that takes time (or money) to clean is by downloading the utility “Disable Autorun.”
Click on the link and download and install the tool. Once it's installed, right click the shortcut on the desktop and click Run as Administrator.
Choose from the following options:
Disables AutoRun on drives of unknown type
Disables AutoRun on removable drives
Disables AutoRun on fixed drives
Disables AutoRun on network drives
Disables AutoRun on CD-ROM drives
Disables AutoRun on RAM disks
Disables AutoRun on all kinds of drives
I would recommend that you select all available options and, if you’re not sure of which options to pick, check the option "Disables AutoRun on all kinds of drives."
Click the Apply button and restart your computer to save and apply the changes. Repeat on other computers around you home or send to a friend to do the same.
[Note: this program must be run with administrator privileges, or you can right click the program and click "Run As Administrator" to run this program.]
[Devesh Prabhu is an avid blogger and has been blogging posts and rants on many subjects through his various blogs. He has been associated with the blogosphere for the past 8/9 years and inadvertently left the blogging scene albeit to concentrate on his personal life, but his desire to be among his readers brought him back.]
[NOTE: The article "[PC Basics] Avoiding Viruses the Smart Way: Disabling Autorun Feature" first appeared on the Komputer Knowledge Blog.
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