Microsoft's latest round of patches released on Tuesday includes an optional update that will shut off the "autorun" capability for users of older Windows operating systems, a move the company has made to reflect the resurgence of worms carried on removable media.
Autorun is a feature that will automatically launch programs that are contained on removable media such as CDs, DVDs or USB sticks. It was designed for the convenience of users, but it also has been used by malware writers to force their malicious code onto victim's computers, with notable examples being the Stuxnet and Conficker worms.
With the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft made a change in how autorun and a related feature, called autoplay, behaved compared to previous versions of Windows. To reduce the risk from worms, autoplay in Windows 7 didn't present an option to autorun programs contained on non-optical media.
More: http://www.pcworld.com/article/219101/
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Autorun is a feature that will automatically launch programs that are contained on removable media such as CDs, DVDs or USB sticks. It was designed for the convenience of users, but it also has been used by malware writers to force their malicious code onto victim's computers, with notable examples being the Stuxnet and Conficker worms.
With the launch of Windows 7, Microsoft made a change in how autorun and a related feature, called autoplay, behaved compared to previous versions of Windows. To reduce the risk from worms, autoplay in Windows 7 didn't present an option to autorun programs contained on non-optical media.
More: http://www.pcworld.com/article/219101/
