Prevent Virus & Malware Spreading through USB / Thumb drives

Removable USB/thumb drives use the Autorun feature to load files when the drives are plugged into the USB port. Malware exploits the Autorun feature to spread from thumb drive to PC. Disable the autorun feature to prevent malware from spreading.

1. Windows XP Pro users: Click Start and then click Run. Type gpedit.msc and click OK. The Group Policy window will open. In the left pane, double-click Administrative Templates
2. In the right pane, double-click System, scroll down the list and double-click Turn Off Autoplay
3. In the Turn Off Autoplay Properties window, select Enabled. From the dropdown next to Turn Off Autoplay on, select All drives and then click OK. Exit Group Policy by selecting File, then choosing Exit from the menu.

1. XP Home users will need to make the changes by editing the registry directly. To begin, click Start and then click Run
2. Type regedit and click OK. The Registry Editor window will open.
3. In the left pane, navigate to:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER
   Software
   Microsoft
   Windows
   CurrentVersion
   Policies
   Explorer.
   ).
4. With Explorer highlighted, in the right-pane right click the value NoDriveTypeAutoRun and select Modify from the drop down menu. The base value will be set to Hexadecimal. If not, select Hexadecimal.
5. Type 95 and click OK.
   Note that this will stop Autorun on removable/USB drives, but still allow it on CD ROM drives. If you want to disable autorun on both, substitute b5 for the 95. (Thanks to Ian L. of Manitoba for the tip).
6. Exit Registry Editor by selecting File, then choosing Exit from the menu.
7. You will now need to reboot your computer for the changes to take effect.