Application problems

[Ballbarian]

Arralen is right. Best to be safe and have someone check your hard drives integrity.

Tollund,
Autorun is a feature best disabled. Ever heard of the Sony rootkit?:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BM...ection_scandal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Copy_Protection

Not to mention viruses that can be transmitted via simply inserting a cdrw disk, floppy (yes some people still use these ) or flash drive.

[Tollund]

Originally Posted by Ballbarian

Tollund,
Autorun is a feature best disabled. Ever heard of the Sony rootkit?:

Yes, it didn't do anything to cause any real concern except among the linux crowd, and as far as I know hasn't been used to do anything.

[Ballbarian]

Nothing of real concern?

A new trojan which uses the cover provided by the Sony DRM component to hide has been detected by BitDefender Labs at 12.15 PM GMT today and is in the wild. This is the first ever observed instance of malware using the Sony DRM rootkit detected and analysed by Mark Russinovich.

And strangely, everything I have seen indicates that this does not affect linux machines.

I hate to quote from Wikipedia, but it was convenient:

Since it is specific to Microsoft Windows, XCP has no effect on all other operating systems such as Linux, BSD, OS/2, Solaris, or Mac OS X

and

This software was automatically installed on Windows desktop computers when customers tried to play the CDs. The software interferes with the normal way in which the Microsoft Windows operating system plays CDs by installing a rootkit which creates vulnerabilities for other malware to exploit. This was discovered and publicly revealed by Mark Russinovich on the Sysinternals blog. Other operating systems were not affected.

Now, getting away from the whole Sony thing,
auto play == vulnerability. I am not saying that I think less of someone who leaves it turned on. I just wanted to point out the risk. A healthy dose of paranoia is more effective than any anti-virus software known to man.

[nordlys]

Not only autorun is unsafe and recommended to be disabled by every security software, it is also hugely annoying, as far as I am concerned. With software cds, I normally put a disk in and switch to doing whatever else I was doing (like playing Dominions to get back to running the disk when I feel like it - only to have the program autorun pop up and force me to do something about it. With non-executable disks, this useless "what do you want to do with the disk" window is nothing short of an abomination - I *know* what I have on the disk and what I am going to do with it, thank you very much, mr. Balmer. I do not need an offer to open it with windows explorer, I have a real file manager. I do not want to run an audio cd or a video dvd with WMP, I have decent music and video players. I am not going to "drag and drop files to record on a blank cdr", I have a proper cd recording program. And so on. That's the reason for "computer-literate luddism", we simply know better software options for our needs than the default crap windows is packaged with, and don't want it pushing its integrated garbage upon us.

As for chkdsk, 10 out of 9 times after incorrect shutdown (occasional hard reset is perfectly normal and rarely if ever hurts anything) it is unnecessary. Running it manually once in a while to get rid of excess lost fragments and other errors is, of course, a different thing.

How further offtopic can we go?

[Tollund]

Originally Posted by nordlys

Not only autorun is unsafe and recommended to be disabled by every security software,

Prove it. Provide evidence for this claim that isn't based on Slashdot style nonsense.

I do not need an offer to open it with windows explorer, I have a real file manager.

Do you enjoy pretending to be superior because you're using unpopular software?

I do not want to run an audio cd or a video dvd with WMP,

Then change the default behaviour instead of complaining that it can't read your mind and pick the correct program when you haven't bothered to tell it what to do.

And so on. That's the reason for "computer-literate luddism", we simply know better software options for our needs than the default crap windows is packaged with, and don't want it pushing its integrated garbage upon us.

Thankfully, people like you are going the way of the dinosaur. The quicker computers are turned into a completely interoperable commodity the better. I suppose you're one of those ignorants who complains that zip file functionality is built into windows.

[Torin]

Tollund in a CD or in a flash usb memory there can be a file called
autorun.inf
being this a text file stating wich applications will run when the media is inserted.
it can be anything. An exe file for example.
If you copy in your flash usb 2 files:

autorun.inf
virus.exe

and set the 2 files hidden. the next fool that puts that flash into the usb port will be infected no matter what (probably the AV will stop infection if the AV know the existence of that virus).

The worst part that you thought the flash mem was empty.
"Autorun on" and "dont see files hidden" are default options of windows.
you should put "autorun off" and "see hidden files" if you want to see what can infect you.

And instead of a virus you can insert a call to shutdown computer mind you.

[nordlys]

Originally Posted by Tollund

Prove it. Provide evidence for this claim that isn't based on Slashdot style nonsense.

Ever plugged an USB flash card of insecure origin into an autoplay-enabled computer? Try it

AVZ reports enabled autoplay as potential security vulnerability. Symantec website has a number of pages on autoplay security. Kaspersky disables autoplay. Google is your friend.

But nevermind that, who needs all this unpopular software when there is Windows Firewall?

Do you enjoy pretending to be superior because you're using unpopular software?

I enjoy using superior software that has all kinds of functions I need, and least of all care whether it is "popular" or not.

Then change the default behaviour instead of complaining that it can't read your mind and pick the correct program when you haven't bothered to tell it what to do.

Why should I bother? I am perfectly comfortable running those programs myself and having autoplay disabled.

Thankfully, people like you are going the way of the dinosaur. The quicker computers are turned into a completely interoperable commodity the better.

As they say, don't allow the children near computers, it makes computers dumber

I suppose you're one of those ignorants who complains that zip file functionality is built into windows.

I have winrar and 7zip installed, I don't care whether there is a built-in zip functionality in windows. I am, however, mildly annoyed the right-click file menu is bloated with a dozen of default windoze options I am not going to ever use in my lifetime, and have to manually seek and remove them in registry and/or file associations.

[lch]

One of the most popular methods of gaining access to a corporate network by hackers is to drop USB sticks labelled with "Documents" or "Private photos" on the company's parking area in the early morning. Some curious person WILL pick those up and plug it into the corporate working station to have a look what's on it. AutoPlay FTW.

[Edi]

Tollund, stop trolling. You gain nothing by being abusive and it is not going to do anyone else on the forum any good either.

[Tollund]

Originally Posted by nordlys

Ever plugged an USB flash card of insecure origin into an autoplay-enabled computer? Try it

No, because I'm not an idiot.

I have winrar and 7zip installed, I don't care whether there is a built-in zip functionality in windows. I am, however, mildly annoyed the right-click file menu is bloated with a dozen of default windoze options I am not going to ever use in my lifetime, and have to manually seek and remove them in registry and/or file associations.

Preferring to use a third-party program over integrated support is pathologically stupid.