USB-set is a program that will help users to configure their PC in order to limit the risk of spreading infections by removable media between your PC and these media.
For details on that type of infection, please read the excellent french document written by Gof (Zebulon moderator) : Securing Windows against threats for removable devices
Beware, in any case this software does not remove that kind of infection if it is already active, it is first of all a prevention tool. USB-set is also multilingual, so far only French and English languages are available and soon Spanish, but other languages can be added if necessary especially if translators are ready to help.
Just click on corresponding flag to translate all tabs.
USB-set Mirror 1
USB-set Mirror 2
With USB-set, you can easily adjust Windows Autorun and AutoPlay functions, clean the traces left by former removable media, enable / disable the recognition of such devices, vaccinate the connected supports and install the resident that will vaccinate any removable storage device inserted later.
The downloaded file installs and launches USB-set, a shortcut can be created on the desktop or the Quick Launch toolbar.
Once installed, you can delete the downloaded file.
- The software launches on the General Setup tab. This tab tells you about the Windows status of various settings that USB-set can control: The resident's status : shows if the resident vaccination is active / inactive and / or installed
The state of vaccination for each connected drive configuration's settings of each adjustable parameter controlling Autorun and Autoplay functions.
To make it easy to read, I've chosen color codes for each item:
- Green means the item is correctly configured
- Orange means you are temporarily protected (only for resident settings)
- In red, the current settings show that the security of your computer is unsafe.
- You can see at once if everything is correct or if some items are to be changed.
- The Autorun Configuration tab allows you to adjust each configurable point that controls the display of autorun / autoplay.The infections through removable media use these functions to spread, that's why it is important to disable or at least control their use.
Again I've used color codes to show the recommended settings.
To understand each of these functions, you can refer to help, the quick links will take you directly to the relevant section.
Your settings will be saved only after validation with the button "Save Changes". Windows Explorer will restart to apply the new settings (it is not necessary to reboot Windows).
In very few cases, the desk may not automatically reappear ; if this happens, please follow these instructions :
- Simultaneously press the Ctrl + Alt + Delete to open Task Manager
- Open the File menu and select "New task"
- Type explorer in the text box and press OK ».
- With The "Clean up traces" tab you can remove traces of former removable media and possibly prevent from the installation of the ones that you want to refuse. You can then clean the mountpoints2 key in which traces of infection by removable media are found very often.
The removal of traces in the registry by devices previously inserted but not found forces Windows to reinstall them at their next insertion. This installation will fail if you disable the recognition of removable devices.
Use the function that disables the recognition of removable devices only if you understand how it works.
If you've used it and you have problems with some USB devices, just click on the button "Enable recognition" and connect again the device that had problems.
- Vaccination tab enables you to control the vaccination of all your PC drives (removable or not, except for CD / DVD). The vaccination is to prevent an infection from using a file autorun.inf in order to spread from the support to the PC. This vaccination can be performed automatically or manually (with or without information messages: silent display). The automatic vaccination resident will also apply on the boot of the PC to storage devices that are not vaccinated , then an USB drive inserted on boot will be treated like any other.
You can also force your antivirus to control the new removable media by provided that the scan to access is active and correctly parameted.
Each vaccination of a new support will be saved, therefore you can see if it works properly.
You can also exclude one or more devices from vaccination if you want, these devices will be no more vaccinated by either the resident or manual vaccination.
Of course, this exclusion will mean a security vulnerability on your PC (the excluded driver will not be protected anymore against infection), it is obvious that this option is for very few cases only, when this vaccination may cause problems and that's why you must be especially attentive to Autorun / Autoplay settings, to minimize this risk.
Note about automatic vaccination : the resident consumes very little resource when it is idle, so you can use it even on an older machine, it should not interfere when it runs.
Thanks to many quick links to help tab and tooltips, you will find information and advice on every run.
USB-set has been tested successfully on Windows XP, Vista and 7 (32 and 64 bits).
Please let me know about your experience (good or bad) and suggestions for improvement.
USB-set is free through personal use.