As you may have already noticed, I'm back! Missed that funky smell of my jeans, didn't you?
Hugs and kisses for everybody! Come here! Come here!
Alright, that's enough bitchslapping for today. Let's get down to business (if you know what I mean because I don't).
Okay. I really don't understand why some people boast of their techy-awesomeness but their PC's get easily infected by viruses, worms and trojans that spread through USB flash disks.
Come on, these techie posers are just like the aliens in that Tom Cruise movie "We Are An Advanced Alien Race With Oh-So-Cool Weapons And Gadgets That No One Can Beat Us But We Don't Clean Up After Our Crap So We Die of A Terminal Disease Called The Common Cold All At Once But Only At The End Of The Movie So The Audience Would Really Be Disappointed".
It's not that hard to prevent your rig from getting infected. Really. It's a no brainer. Even Jack Black could do it. (I'm not saying Jack Black has no brain. I'm just saying. Got that? Good.)
(Note: The following applies to Windows XP. But I'm sure you could do something similar with Vista and Windows 7 as long as you grasp the whole concept.)
You know that window/dialog that pops up whenever you plug-in your USB drive? Just click on "Cancel".
Software Roxer adds that you should open your USB drive not from My Computer or Windows Explorer but from the Run dialog.
That's good enough for some.
But I prefer a different approach, a much sexier and much safer way to play with your stick (USB stick, perv).
The problem with Software Roxer's method is that although you may be able to see the hidden virus files and hence delete them, you might still be tricked into launching files that you think are safe but are actually virus .exe files in disguise.
First things first, I need you to download a slick application from Microsoft that enables you to tweak some of Windows XP's settings. It's available free (yes, that Greedy Monster gives freebies too!) from the Microsoft Powertoy page and is called Tweak UI.
Download and install Tweak UI (not, I repeat, NOT the Itanium-based one).
Or download it directly here.
Okay, launch Tweak UI.
Click on the "+" sign on the left of "My Computer" to expand it.
Click on the "+" sign on the left of "Autoplay" to expand that too.
Then click on "Drives".
Uncheck all boxes you see on the right panel of the Tweak UI Window, like so:
After that, under the "Autoplay" tree on the left panel of the window, click on "Types" (just under "Drives").
On the right panel that appears, you could choose to uncheck "Enable Autoplay for removable drives" only. But I prefer to uncheck both.
Click on "Apply" then "OK" to close that sanamabitch window.
There's one thing left to do.
Two things actually.
Ahm. Three? No, two! Two things!
I hate math. Hehe...
Okay, go to your desktop and double click on "My Computer".
Click on "Tools" menu then on "Folder Options".
On the dialog that appears, click on the "View".
Here, we'll do what Software Roxer suggested but we'll add some spice into it.
Inside "Advanced Settings", locate "Hidden files and folders" and below it, select "Show hidden files and folders".
Right under that, uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
And right under that, uncheck "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)". Read and understand everything in the warning dialog that pops up. And click "OK" to close that warn-my-face bullshit.
Click on "Apply" then "OK".
That's all there is to it.
From this point on, you won't get that autorun dialog anymore. (And hence, you avoid clicking on "OK" whenever it pops up.)
And whenever you plug in your USB drive, you could always explore its contents through the Run dialog as Software Roxer suggested. ("Windows Start Menu" -> "Run" -> type "E:" or the designated letter of the drive of your USB device -> click "OK")
The rationale behind what we've done is that these viruses exploit the autorun function of Windows XP to automatically run themselves when you use the traditional way of opening the contents of USB drive.
And yeah, while browsing through the files in your USB drive, delete all suspicious files that you know were not created by you. And don't launch suspicious .exe files, especially "New Folder.exe".
Some important notes:
- From now on, you would be able to see all the extensions of your files (i.e. resume.doc, help.txt, i_hate_my_dog.jpg). Be careful when renaming files. You should always include its extension. Resume.doc is different from Resume (without the extension) and Microsoft Word will not be able to launch the latter.
- Important Windows system files will also be made visible to you. That was what the folder options warning above was all about. Word of advice, DELETE SUSPICIOUS SYSTEM FILES FOUND ONLY IN YOUR USB drive.
- Hidden files inside your USB should, more often than not, be deleted at once. How would you know if a file is hidden? Refer to Software Roxer's post again.
- If you've disabled autorun on your CD/DVD drives too (like I did), you have to manually open the files in it. If you want to watch a DVD movie, for example, launch your media player first then open the DVD from there.
- And for fuck's sake, install an antivirus, update it often and scan your computer at least once a month. It may not be a solve-it-all, but it can cure the most common infections.
