autorun

Microsoft reported that its February security update for Windows XP and Vista has reduced the AutoRun abusing malware infection rates by as much as 82%.

In February Microsoft offered optional update to XP and Vista users, later it was changed to automatically download and install. The update was meant to disable AutoRun.

On Windows 7 system Microsoft changed AutoRun’s behavior to block automatic execution of files on a USB drive.

Linux running PCs are vulnerable to Windows oriented autorun style attacks as it was proved by a security researcher. Jon Larimer, of IBM's X-Force security division, conducted a research and found that autorun is not absolutely extraneous to Linux architecture. Larimer developed a demo to show how it might be possible to insert a USB stick with modified code into a Ubuntu PC to get rid of a screensaver without entering a password – and display the user's desktop.