Hawk’s Babble-Log

Autorun is a feature bug in Windows which automatically runs arbitrary programs whenever a CD is inserted in the drive, or when any new USB jumpdrive is inserted into the system.

For example, if I insert my friend’s infected jumpdrive into my Windows machine, and it contains the file AUTORUN.INF in the root of that drive, Windows will run whatever virus is specified in that file, thus infecting my machine. Except that I have autorun turned OFF, so my machine doesn’t get infected, and I am able to delete the AUTORUN.INF file, as well as the virus files on his flash drive.

As far as security is concerned, this is the worst possible bug Microsoft could have ever created (except possibly the semi-automatic virus installer known as Internet Explorer).

How to turn off autorun in Windows XP:

Go here and download Tweak UI (on the right, about half-way down):
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Downloads/powertoys/Xppowertoys.mspx

This will give you a file called, ‘TweakUiPowertoySetup.exe‘. It’s an installer; run it to install Microsoft Power Toys / TweakUI. No reboot necessary.

Once that’s done, Start Menu -> Programs -> Powertoys for Windows XP -> TweakUI. It looks like this:

In the left pane, click the + next to My Computer, click the + next to AutoPlay, then click on Drives. On the right will be a list of all drive letters possible. Uncheck every single one (with prejudice). It should now look something like this:

Click OK and you’re done!

I see two major things which are wrong here:

1. Microsoft, in an effort to be user-friendly, made this feature bug ON by default. This means that an infected jumpdrive can spread a virus/trojan/malware throughout an office like wildfire. Microsoft wants it like this. Well, they never have been too keen on system security, so that kinda makes sense.

2. Microsoft made it very, very difficult to turn autorun OFF in Windows XP. It didn’t used to be this difficult. In older versions of Windows, you could turn it off from the system control panel. Search the net for instructions, it did not require downloading a utility to do it.

Drawbacks to turning Autorun off

The only drawback to turning autorun off in Windows XP is that CDs won’t start to play automatically when you pop ‘em in. Also, if you’re using a Cruzer Micro USB drive, it’s annoying software won’t launch automatically when you pop the thing in your machine. Actually, that’s a good thing. But if you like it’s annoying software to launch every time you pop it in, then you’ll want to leave autorun turned on for that drive letter. But know this: if your USB stick (or anyone else’s) is infected and autorun is on, it will infect your computer before you can say, “Dang it, Microsoft!” (as soon as you stick it in).