Newsletter Archives

• What’s with the Shift key?

  Posted on March 18, 2009 at 06:16 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Reader M writes:

  “…. Hold down the Shift key when you put anything into your computer. …”

  Besides the obvious gymnastics involved in this, what is holding down the shift key supposed to do to defeat the worm if it’s on the flash drive?

  Holding down the Shift key prevents Windows from automatically running whatever it’s supposed to run automatically. In the case of a Conficker-infected USB drive (or camera memory card), holding down the Shift key will prevent the worm from putting a very confusing message on your desktop that may easily trick you into allowing the worm to infect your machine.

  In general, it’s a good idea to hold down the Shift key and open the drive (or memory card) manually, by clicking Start, Computer (or My Computer), then right-clicking on the USB drive (or memory card) and choosing Explore.

  In a similar vein, JB writes:

  [W]hen you talk about holding down the shift key when you install a cd or dvd, how long do you hold it down?

  I bought some blank DVD+R to make backups for my computer. Do I hold the shift key down when putting a blank DVD+R in?

  When you hold down the Shift key, you need to keep it down long enough for Windows to recognize that the drive’s in the slot, and then have it realize that it shouldn’t do anything. Ten seconds should do the trick.

  No need to hold down the shift key when you insert a blank CD-R or DVD-R – as long as you know that they’re blank.

  Other autorun, Shift key

• What to do about KB 967715?

  Posted on March 17, 2009 at 06:45 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Reader TJ writes:

  Currently I’m a bit fuzzy on your recent post on KB967715 as whether to install now or wait. I do use the “shift” key, but am not clear as to install now or not. Could you please be a bit more specific on this in one of your next blogs? ( have to remember, I an xp dummy—-lol).

  Good question.

  Right now, I recommend most users remember to push the Shift key when inserting any kind of memory into an XP computer – USB drive, the SD card from your camera, even a CD or DVD.

  People in a corporate environment aren’t so lucky. Companies can’t expect eveybody to hold down the Shift key – and they’re paying for it.

  The definitive articles on the topic, in my opnion, are the two Susan Bradley wrote for Windows Secrets Newsletter. Her March 5 Top Story AutoRun patch a long time coming for XP users describes the patch and its shortcomings. Her March 12 follow-on article Microsoft flubs a way to disable AutoRun in XP tells you where Microsoft went wrong – and how to fix it.

  The bottom line is that it’s a LOT of work to get XP to disable AutoRun. Ain’t worth the effort for people who are smart enough to hold down Shift. But you HAVE to remember to hold down the Shift key every time you insert memory.

  Uncategorized, Windows Patches/Security autorun, KB 967715, Shift key, Windows XP