using a usb drive safely on a public computer?

balaka · Dec 22, 2009

im currently using a prohibitively expensive prepaid wireless broadband in the middle of nowhere to surf the net. due to the nature of my work however i need to download large files regularly from the high speed net cafe in town.

is it possible to plug in a usb external hard drive on a public computer safely?

surely there is some kind of virtual condom i can use to stop it from picking up nasties? some way of quarantining and cleaning when i plug it in to my computer???

any help on this topic would be hugely appreciated, thanks =)

Adrynalyne · Dec 22, 2009

I'm kind of curious myself, Its been my experience that if a computer is compromised, you simply cannot trust anything about it anymore, including external storage.

Kestrel13! · Dec 22, 2009

Might this be of some help: Take a look -

For the external Hard Drive and a USB stick.

Insert your flash drive before we begin. Hold down the Shift key when inserting the flash drive until Windows detects it to bypass the autorun feature. This will keep the autorun.inf from executing automatically.

Please have all your removable storage devices ready for disinfection.

Download Flash Disinfector by sUBs and save it to your desktop.

Double-click Flash_Disinfector.exe to run it.

Your desktop and icons may disappear. This is normal.

It will do a cleanup of removable storage devices, and write a protected Autorun.inf file to help prevent re-infection.

Follow any prompts that may appear.

The utility may ask you to insert your flash drive and/or other removable drives including your mobile phone. Please do so and allow the utility to clean up those drives as well.

Wait until it has finished scanning and then exit the program.

There will be no GUI interface or log file produced.

Reboot your computer when done.

Note: Flash_Disinfector will create a hidden folder named autorun.inf in each partition and every USB drive plugged in when you ran it. Don't delete this folder. It will help protect your drives from future infection.

BILLMCC66 · Dec 22, 2009

Here is the condom you seek.

http://www.gizmodiva.com/home_gadgets/condom_usb_safety_cum_software.php

Kestrel13! · Dec 22, 2009

Haha that's great :-D But I have to pick up on this:

As soon as the gadget detects a virus, it’s built in software shuts off USB access, verifies the problem and removes it then and there.
Click to expand...

Can this gadget be trusted to successfully detect virus in every instance? No is my answer.... not even our anti virus are capable of that.

Bold Eagle · Dec 22, 2009

Gotta have the condoms Bill.....rofl.

dbl also had an excellent discussion on this issue and suggested a very interesting product.

Possibly pm him and ask him as well as I can't remember the title, etc

BILLMCC66 · Dec 22, 2009

Kestrel13! said: ↑

Haha that's great :-D But I have to pick up on this:

Can this gadget be trusted to successfully detect virus in every instance? No is my answer.... not even our anti virus are capable of that.
Click to expand...

As we all know Emms nothing in this life is guaranteed except death and taxes.:-D

sikvik · Dec 22, 2009

http://majorgeeks.com/Panda_USB_and_AutoRun_Vaccine_d6029.html
Cheers.
Edit to add: Ouch... Can't go around installing it in cyber cafe etc.

balaka · Dec 27, 2009

cheers guys =)

sikvik said: ↑

http://majorgeeks.com/Panda_USB_and_AutoRun_Vaccine_d6029.html
Cheers.
Edit to add: Ouch... Can't go around installing it in cyber cafe etc.
Click to expand...

if i understand it correctly, it's used to immunize and safeguard the autorun file on the usb drive, so it doesnt really matter then if the public computer tries to infect it...?

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using a usb drive safely on a public computer?

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