USB Ports are a convenient way to attach peripherals to a PC.

There’s a huge variety of USB peripherals available – from web cameras to printers and even some ADSL modems!  Modern PCs also use USB to attach the keyboard and mouse!

Many of us use USB to attach storage devices. Thumb drives, External Hard Drives and even iPods. It’s a fast & easy way to backup files and carry data between locations.

Unfortunately, it’s possible for Bad Guys to manipulate how some USB Storage Devices are treated by Windows – and that spells trouble. These USB devices are commonly available from Major Retailers – and the instructions on how to modify them are easily found on the net.

Simply plugging a specific type of modified USB Flash Drive into a PC can result in a malicious payload being delivered invisibly onto the PC.  It can copy your files, steal your passwords, install a keylogger – anything the Hackers mind can think of.

So how can we deal with this?

1.       Turn off a PC when you’re not using it.

This completely prevents any hacking and also saves power!

2.       Lock the PC when you’re not in front of it.

When it’s locked, the “autorun” doesn’t work.

3.       Speak to your IT Support Team about restricting USB functionality

Windows has some tools that can lock down the USB ports. IT Support Teams like PCGURU can help.

4.       Investigate 3rd Party Tools to manage USB.

Tools such as “DeviceLock” and “Safend” allow you to control what can be plugged into the PC.

Remember, there are USB ports on the back of your PC as well, so even if it is switched off or locked, if someone has plugged one of these devices into the rear of the PC, when you start using it again it will still do its nasty work.

Newer versions of Windows – such as “Windows 7” deal with “autorun” in a more intelligent way, but until we all move to the new operating system, we need to be conscious of the risks we face.

If you have an external USB Hard Drive that is permanently connected to your computer, you can enable "write caching" to speed up performance when writing to the disk.

"Write caching" is not enabled by default for removable drives because you could lose data if you unplug them without "ejecting" them, so please take care when using this setting or you will corrupt the drive and lose data.

To change this setting under Vista, just type Device Manager into the start menu search box, and hit enter.  

Browse down to the USB hard drive that you wish to enable "write caching" on, and right click->properties.

Change the setting to “Optimise for performance” and hit OK to continue.

You’ll have to reboot for the setting to take effect.

Again - be aware that you need to safely eject this drive before unplugging the USB cable or you will likely lose data.