Autorun Slowed Down -- Redmondmag.com

Barney's Blog

Autorun Slowed Down

The notion of Autorun is a bit scary. Sure, it's convenient to have a CD or DVD start right up without having to go to the Start Menu and futz around. But what would happen if Autorun initiates bad code? It would be like that feeling one gets clicking on a malicious link -- a feeling of no control.

Fortunately Microsoft hasn't seen these attacks yet...but hackers would love Autorun because they don't have to trick anyone in clicking anything. They just have to somehow get their nasty software on a USB, DVD, CD or extended drive.

Microsoft has heard the fears, and just shipped an update that partially turns off Autorun. XP and Vista users will now be notified before Autorunning, but only for USB or extended drives. CDs and DVDs will still Autorun because presumably they were published by trustworthy vendors. Windows 7 came shipped with this fix.

Posted by Doug Barney on 02/16/2011 at 1:18 PM

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