Write-protect a flash drive to prevent virus attacks from an infected computer.
Amidst its widely recognized advantage of being a portable storage device when working on files for transfer to various computers, a flash drive also has a high risk of transferring computer viruses from one computer to another. Word files are highly susceptible to these viruses as such documents are commonly exchanged by multiple users.
Macro Viruses
According to the Microsoft website, a macro virus is a computer virus that uses an application's own macro programming language to distribute itself and potentially inflict damage to a computer document or even other applications on the computer. A macro virus commonly attacks Word files. Infected Word files can be harmful to both the Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Document Retrieval from an Infected Flash Drive
Depending on the type of Word virus in the flash drive, it is possible to save an infected document through a computer's antivirus program. There are also some software tools such as the Smart USB Flash Drive Blocker, USBProtect and Autorun Killer that block flash drives from copying automated virus files and virus-infected files into your computer while allowing safe copying of clean files for retrieval.
Virus Prevention in Flash Drives
Investing in quality USB flash drives is the first line of defense for prevention of virus attacks. Aside from applications that detect any virus attack in the flash drive, there are also those that come with write protector switches so that users can make them read-only drives; the protector switch prevents a virus from writing itself into a drive upon its insertion to an infected computer. There are also available write-protect and antivirus applications specifically targeted for virus prevention on flash drives.
Tags: flash drive, flash drives, Word files, Flash Drives, infected computer, macro virus