Autorun: Why & how you should disable it

Autorun is a Windows feature that, when you double-click on a drive, it runs a predefined command automatically. Often used by software companies for their installation disks, it is also known to be a vulnerable point that is often exploited by malwares. It works by finding a file called autorun.inf, then executes whatever is scripted inside. If it executes a malware, then yeah, you’re infected.

Hence the importance of disabling the autorun feature. Unfortunately, autorun is enabled by default. And disabling them is not as direct as changing the wallpaper. But it should be easy, nonetheless. Here’s how:

Open notepad, and copy this script:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\IniFileMapping\Autorun.inf]
@=”@SYS:DoesNotExist”

Then save as anything.reg. Make sure you choose “Save file as type” to “All files” before saving, or else you’ll get a .txt file. Then just double-click the file you just made, a prompt window appears, just click Yes.

This method should work on all versions of Windows, including Windows XP and Windows Vista, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Credits to Nick Brown for the tip.

Other methods are also available, but may require a patch before you can really disable autorun. But the above method is sufficient to disable autorun.