Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Transfering files with USB thumb drive

Transfering files with USB thumb drive

Make sure that Autorun feature in your Windows OS for USB drives is turned off.
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Keep it simple, it'll become complex by itself...

Could I delete all the files on it and format it to make it safe again?

Of course you can. Just format the whole drive.

But if Autorun on your computer is off, you may look at files in USB (if you want to). Running (executing) them could be not safe though...
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Keep it simple, it'll become complex by itself...

reply to SueS
It's far safer to burn those programs to a CD-R rather than use a USB drive.

I regard thumb drives as a "substantial risk"...

I was not thinking when I quickly used the thumb drive. I might just throw it in the trash.

It's probably OK...just follow the advice above and reformat.

reply to SueS

Will do, thanks guys.

Thumb drives used to have switches on them that would let you write-lock them. That feature must have been too confusing for the masses.

reply to SueS
I don't know if it still works, but I remember back in the dark ages, if you held down the SHIFT key (or some other key) when inserting a CD, it would stop auto-run. I wonder if something like that will still work?

reply to SueS
I deleted the files and did a format on the thumb drive and all is ok. Thanks guys!

I originally had GIMP portable on the drive. I was in a hurry to help this guy and I put Malwarebytes and Windows defender on it. At the time I wasn't thinking about reusing it in my computer.

reply to John Galt