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    Autoplay = Autorun ?

    Discussion in 'Security and Anti-Virus Software' started by vortexboy87, Dec 26, 2009.

  1. vortexboy87

    vortexboy87 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm wondering if activating the Autoplay function is risky when it comes to using Usb flash drives contaminated with autorun viruses?
     
    vortexboy87, Dec 26, 2009
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  2. LIVEFRMNYC

    LIVEFRMNYC Blah Blah Blah!!!

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    Avast AV usually detects any virus on my thumb drive as soon as I put it in. And maybe setting(temporary or for good) your UAC to the highest level is best if your worried about any possible changes being made when you insert thumb drive on autoplay.
     
    LIVEFRMNYC, Dec 26, 2009
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  3. Saisei

    Saisei Notebook Deity

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    Auto play is safe but be sure to scan suspicious flash drives.
     
    Saisei, Dec 26, 2009
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  4. vortexboy87

    vortexboy87 Notebook Enthusiast

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    It is funny that you are mentioning this as I just switched to Kaspersky after Avast failed to detect a virus coming from a USB drive.

    UAC is set to highest.

    I just read somewhere that Autorun has been removed from Windows 7 for all devices except CDS/DVDS, now when you insert a USB flash drive, if you choose to open the USB drive, you will be on "viewing" mode and you won't be running the autorun feature of the USB drive, which is pretty cool.
     
    vortexboy87, Dec 28, 2009
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  5. swarmer

    swarmer beep beep

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    You can use autoplay without the autorun part if you want. For example, if you want to autoplay music/video files but not autorun .exe's, you can set that up in AutoPlay preferences.

    How to configure it depends on which version of Windows you're using.

    But if you want to autorun programs, then yeah it's risky.

    Autoplaying media files still has some risk (since a malicious media file could exploit a bug in your player program) but it's a much smaller risk.

    Kind of silly IMO, since a CD could just as easily have malware as a USB stick.
     
    swarmer, Dec 28, 2009
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