How to Disable Windows Autorun
The infection spreads from a USB device to your computer by taking advantage of a Windows feature called autorun.
If autorun is disabled, this virus -- and similar ones we are sure to see in the future -- will not be able to hop onto your computer from a thumb drive, smart phone, camera, music player or other device connected the USB port.
The disadvantage here is that software on a CD or DVD will no longer automatically start up when you insert the disk. You will need to open the drive in Explorer and double-click on whatever program would have opened on its own. However, the protection you gain by disabling autorun should make up for this minor inconvenience.
To disable the Windows autorun feature:
Note that to make this change to the Registry, you will need to using an account on your Windows system that has administrative privileges.
- Download this disable_autorun.reg file and save it to disk. (If you are using Firefox, hold down the Alt key while you click the link.)
- Double-click disable_autorun.reg. This will create the appropriate entry in the Windows Registry.
- Restart your computer to make sure the change has taken effect.
If you ever need to re-enable the autorun feature, you can download and run this enable_autorun.reg file. Since autorun leaves your computer vulnerable to some serious threats, we strongly suggest keeping it disabled.