Block pen drives

Pen drives can be used to
upload malicious code to
your computer – either deliberately
in the case of remotespying
software or by accident
in case of viruses. They
can also be used to copy and
steal confidential information
from your computer
when left unwatched.
Whenever a new USB
device is plugged in to a USB
port of your computer, Windows
checks its device and
hardware ID to determine if
it’s a storage device or not. If
it determines that it is indeed
a mass storage device or a
pen drive in common language,
it will load the appropriate
driver, and display the
device as a drive in Windows
Explorer. All of this is handled
by the usbstor.sys driver.
So, to block your computer’s
ability to use USB drives
follow these steps: Go to Start
> Run and type regedit to
open the registry editor.
In the left pane, navigate
to Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_
MACHINE\System\Current-
ControlSet\Services\
USBSTOR.
Double-click on the entry
named Start in the right pane.
Change the Value data:
field to 4. Press OK to save it.
If you want to revert back
to the default configuration
and enable your computer’s
ability to use USB drives,
just set the value of Start to
3 again.