The W32.Deletemusic worm spreads via Autoplay, a function in Windows that starts up a designated program when you insert removable media such as a CDROM or USB drive.
The best prevention is to turn off Autoplay. I've often wished that the Autoplay feature was turned off by default in Windows, it would also be nice if there was an easy way to turn it off somewhere in the user settings . . . but it's a tad more complicated.
Autoplay is not really needed anyway, it's annoying when you insert a CD that you just want to browse, and it's been the vector for virii several times in the past. Just remember that if you turn it off, and you insert a CD from which you want to install something, you will need to browse to that CD and find the Setup program manually instead of waiting for the Autoplay setup to start automatically. I like having to start setup manually better anyway, gives me more control over my system.
To turn Autoplay off, find the heading for your operating system below.
Windows XP Home
1) Create a new TXT file and open it in Notepad.
2) Paste the code below into your new text file.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000B5
3) Save the file, close it in Notepad, and rename the file to end in the ".reg" extension.
4) Double click the REG file to import the setting into your registry. Click OK when it asks if this is something you want to do . . .
5) Reboot and done for Windows XP Home.
Windows XP Professional
1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC
2) Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.
3) Locate the entry for "Turn Off Autoplay" and Enable it for All Drives.
4) Close the Policy Editor and reboot . . . done for Windows XP Professional!
Windows Vista
1) Create a new TXT file and open it in Notepad.
2) Paste the code below into your new text file.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
"NoDriveTypeAutoRun"=dword:000000FF
3) Save the file, close it in Notepad, and rename the file to end in the ".reg" extension.
4) Double click the REG file to import the setting into your registry. Click OK when it asks if this is something you want to do . . .
5) Reboot and done for Windows Vista!
