How to Turn Off Autoplay on Flash Drives

Turn off Autoplay on flash drives to shield your PC from viruses.

USB flash drives are convenient to say the least. They are small enough to fit in your pocket, can hold gigabytes of information and make sharing files with colleagues and friends a snap. However, there is, unfortunately, a downside: viruses.



While carrying your flash drive from computer to computer, you run the risk of infecting your computer with someone else's virus. The risk of being infected increases because many viruses spread to a computer as soon as the flash drive goes into a USB slot. The reason viruses are able to spread from a USB flash drive so fast--the Autoplay feature in Windows. Turn it off for your USB flash drives and avoid many of the viruses that travel with them.

Things You'll Need

• USB flash drive

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button and then "Control Panel."

2. Click the "Hardware and Sound" link inside the Control Panel.

3. Click the "Change default settings for media or devices" link under the "AutoPlay" option.

4. Click the check box and remove the check mark next to the "Use AutoPlay for all media and devices" label at the top of the screen.

5. Click the "Save" button at the bottom of the window. Windows will no longer AutoPlay media or files from your USB flash drive. AutoPlay will still prompt you when inserting CDs, DVDs or other standard media into the optical drive.

References

• Microsoft Support: How to disable the Autorun functionality in Windows
• Microsoft Windows: AutoPlay Frequently Asked Questions
• Microsoft Support: Virus Alert About the Win32/Conficker Worm

Resources

• Microsoft Windows Vista: Change AutoPlay settings
• Microsoft Support: Update to the AutoPlay Functionality in Windows