How to configure Windows 8/Windows defender to scan USB drives.–PC Pitstop
Scan USB Drives with Windows 8
By Dave Taylor
The Question: My students bring in their schoolwork on USB flash drives at our computer camp and I want to set up the WIndows 8.1 systems in the lab to scan the drives once plugged in. How can I set that up?
Dave’s Answer:
You are right to be concerned: having people plug in USB flash drives with unknown files is a prime vector for malware making it onto your computer or one of the computers in the lab, so I’d be anxious too! When an infection spreads through something like this, it can be impossible for the person to realize they’ve just done something wrong, so if it does happen, don’t expect a child to say “Hey Miss Smith, look at this!”
Fortunately just about every decent antivirus program can be configured to automatically scan any removable drive or device before letting the system see it and execute anything on the unit, whether it’s an external hard drive, a CDROM or a lowly USB flash drive.
I run Windows Defender on my reference Win8 system, so let’s have a look at how that needs to be configured. Most other anti-virus programs should be quite similar…
