I recently used a USB flash drive for school presentations, but after using it at a print center, my antivirus software warned me that it might be infected with a virus. This has me worried—can malware execute just from plugging in the drive? I've disabled autoplay on my system, but should I consider rolling back my Windows 11 to an earlier restore point to ensure safety, even though that would mean losing some recent files? Also, in the future, would using Sandboxie Plus to isolate any USB drives instantly be a good practice? I read that it can confine all applications on a USB drive to a sandbox, which sounds reassuring if I connect a drive that has malware.
1 Answer
While a USB drive can definitely be a potential source of malware, if you’re using a drive that you've only used yourself and have disabled autorun, it's unlikely to execute anything on its own. Just make sure you avoid using random USBs or others' drives, as those can be more dangerous. If you want to be super cautious, consider using an air-gapped sandbox machine to handle any USBs you’re unsure of.
That makes sense! I actually bought the USB myself, but it gave me a warning when I got home. I’m just nervous about this whole automatic execution thing. By the way, what is an air-gapped sandbox machine?