A better name would have been AutoDetect as the automatic processing is limited to detecting file types. However, Autoplay does not need or depend on the autorun.inf file (Autorun does).Īutoplay was a misnomer from the get-go, the only thing that happens automatically is the presentation of the Autoplay window. As we saw in my initial posting, the first Autoplay option can be controlled by directives in the autorun.inf file (this explains the first option in the screen shot above).
Autoplay looks for an autorun.inf file too. When Autoplay is enabled, Windows examines a newly inserted thingy (removable media) and offers a choice of programs to process the various types of files it finds. A sample Autoplay window is shown below, no doubt you've seen it many times. Whereas autorun literally ran a program automatically, Autoplay puts the computer user in charge. My first posting on this subject offered a sample autorun.inf file.Īutoplay was introduced with Windows XP. If you've ever inserted a CD into a Windows computer and had a program run automatically, autorun was behind it. Autorun has been designed not to work on removable drives such as USB flash drives, as these drives are much more readily infected and passed around to other computers.Īutorun was introduced back in Windows 95 and the living embodiment of it, is a configuration file in the root directory of removable media (CDs, USB flash drives, external hard drives, etc.) called autorun.inf. The classic/legacy definiton of Autorun is described by Dan McCloy as: AutoRun is the functionality that enables a CD-ROM drive or a fixed drive to specify a program or document to be started immediately upon the connection of the drive. Microsoft uses these terms to mean different things at different times. In my previous posting I griped about the terms Autorun and Autoplay. Have no fear though, after making the simple change described below the only way to get infected by an infected USB flash drive is to manually seek out and run the malware (run.me.to.). Odds are that any Windows computer will be susceptible to at least one of the tricks. My first posting on this topic has a sample autorun.inf file that safely illustrates three of these tricks, and you can download this file to test how well your PC is defended from inadvertently running software off the flash drive. My first posting on the topic of Autorun/Autoplay, Test your defenses against malicious USB flash drives, described three ways that bad guys trick people into running malicious software that resides on an infected USB flash drive.Īlthough, at times, flash drive resident software can run by itself (think U3 flash drives) without any action on the part of the computer user (other than inserting the USB flash drive) the more normal case is that a person has to be tricked.
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