A lot of viruses use USB media to propagate.You must have encountered New Folder.exe or many such viruses spreading through USB drives..In order to be propagated by this way,the virus usually attack the Autorun file on the USB drive.AUTORUN.INF file is used by Windows to start some programs automatically.Viruses are usually programmed to spread automatically through this Autorun.inf
So if you insert your USB drive in an infected PC,your drive will be infected too.In order to protect you from these Autorun infections,Panda Security research has developed a free utility which can be used to disable the Autorun completely and hence prevent spreading of virus.Panda USB vaccine
This tool, called Panda USB vaccine once launched gives you two options
- Computer Vaccination
- USB drive vaccination.

If you vaccinate your computer,then it will disable the complete Autorun file,and no program from any external media drive (CD/DVD/USB) can be executed automatically.If you choose to vaccinate your USB drive,this tool will permanently block an Autorun file on the selected USB drive.The Autorun file will no longer be read,created,deleted or modified.This means that any malware spreading through USB drive will not be propagated automatically even if they are programmed to do so,as the Autorun is no longer accessible.
The USB drive will can be used normally.It’s available for FAT and FAT 32 USB drives which all of us use.
Important Note
Panda Security blog says that the process is irreversible without formatting it. So it’s advisable not to vaccinate USB drives which come with embedded program launchers like some SanDisk and some Transcend drives,as it may block the launcher program too.Read further and download here.
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