USB Autorun Update From Microsoft

USB Autorun is a favorite among USB promotional companies as it will autorun their website, PDF files or movies.  USB Autorun also gives the pirates and hackers an open door to reak havoc on your system.

Last year one of the worst virus’ spread via USB and it’s most important attribute for success was the USB autorun function.

This should all change if millions of users update the latest patch from Microsoft which address the autorun problem.  The update is for all versions of Windows other than Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to adapt to the behavior in those new versions. After the patch update (KB971029), users who insert a USB device will no longer see a menu option to execute programs on the device itself. The standard menu options, to view files on the device or play media, will remain, and behavior for CD and DVD media also remains unchanged.

Microsoft feels the autorun function was such a big problem for malware jumping onto your system they had to do something.  Users should note that USB with CD ROM emulation will still trigger the USB autorun function.  If interested, there are some ways of getting a CD-ROM partition onto a USB stick.

The update from Microsoft is not considered urgent enough for a security update, but they do consider it an “important” update, so we recommend you use the link in this post and get the update.  Or approve the next Microsoft update you get from your OS.