Posts by: Elinor Mills and Ina Fried

Microsoft tightens Windows 7 security for USB drives

Elinor Mills and Ina Fried | Apr 29, 2009

In the wake of the Conficker worm spreading via removable storage devices among other methods, Microsoft said on Tuesday it is making a change to the way Windows 7 handles USB drives.

As a result of the change, most USB drives will not be able to automatically launch a program using a Windows feature known as AutoRun, Microsoft said in a post on its Security Research & Defense Blog.

So, if an infected USB drive is inserted on a machine then the AutoRun task will not be displayed, Microsoft said.

Fixed removable media, such as CDs and DVDs will still be able to use AutoRun. Also, some specialized "smart" USB flash drives such as those containing U3 software will still be able to appear as DVD drives, effectively allowing them to also use AutoRun, Microsoft cautioned.

The change will show up in the release candidate version of Windows 7 that is being released to developers this week and publicly on May 5.
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Filed under: PC & Peripherals
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