The malicious worm Downadup, also called Conflicker or Conficker, spreads through networks and the autorun feature in USB memory sticks and drives, CDs, and DVDs. It is estimated that one in 16 PCs is already infected. Microsoft Windows, even with the latest updates, does not disable the autorun feature properly. XP updates do not even address the vulnerability.

Learn how to disable autorun in Microsoft Windows to protect against this type of autorun-based malware.

Here is the short version of the directions for Windows XP users:

To turn off autorun, download and run this autorun.reg file. The file is just a text file with the following 3 lines (the second line may wrap on your screen because it is long):

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

When asked whether you really want to run this program—which turns off autorun via the Windows registry—affirm your choice that you do want to run it. When done, reboot.

Of course this won't help you if you are already infected.

If in doubt about what you are doing, contact a knowledgeable Windows technician.