The word "virus" itself poses a scare in our minds. Whenever we hear this word we suddenly get panicked, Oh my God!!! My PC has a VIRUS!!! If don't react like this, then either you are too smart or you are a complete dumb. But nevertheless after reading this article you will not be that dumb. Today we are discussing on AutoRun.inf which often is called as a virus. Well, that is not exactly true. Lets us learn why is not true.
AutoRun.inf is a simple text file containing a small script which is used to auto-execute or auto-play, as we normally say, a CD/DVD containing a movie or a software or ISO.
For example, whenever you buy a brand new DVD of a movie from the market, the DVD contains an AutoRun.inf file and when you insert that DVD in the drive either the movie starts playing or you are presented with the some menus. This is done by this AutoRun.inf file. It was introduced in Windows 95.
For example, whenever you buy a brand new DVD of a movie from the market, the DVD contains an AutoRun.inf file and when you insert that DVD in the drive either the movie starts playing or you are presented with the some menus. This is done by this AutoRun.inf file. It was introduced in Windows 95.
Below is a very simple script for an autorun:
[autorun]
open=filename.exeicon=filename.icolabel=Test Install
[autorun] - It is the primary section which must be included to for the script to run successfully.
open=filename.exe - This defines which file should be executed when the disk is inserted.
icon=filename.ico - This is used to display the icon for the disk that has been inserted.
label=Test Install - This defines what would be the name of the disk inserted.
AutoRun.inf itself is not actually a virus in the true sense. As AutoRun.inf is used to auto-execute any file, this useful functionality was started to be misused by auto-executing malware or unwanted files. For example, a music CD can used to auto-run a software containing malware which is unexpected. Generally the virus executed with auto-run makes infects your whole hard drive by creating multiple copies of .exe files on your hard drive. These .exe files often connect to a malicious web site which installs a keylogger on your PC which records everything and are remained unknown of the unusual activity. Hence, AutoRun.inf is often called as a virus but it itself is not actually a virus.
There are many ways to remove such virus. Most common way is to do a full scan with a good anti-virus or get a good removal tool. There are even manual ways of removing which we you will learn in the next article.
By now you must be clear that AutoRun.inf itself is not a virus although it can used to run a malware or any other malicious file. It is just a useful function introduced in Windows95 which is now being misused.
Stay tuned for the next to learn removing such virus manually.
No comments:
Post a Comment