In  what looks like a malware writer's worst dream, Microsoft is disabling the autorun function on its various operating systems.

Under the plan, Redmond will prevent memory sticks, digital picture frames and other devices that attach to PCs from running automatically when they're plugged in. The only devices that won't be affected are non-writeable DVDs and CD-ROMs, which haven't been spreading malicious code.

Microsoft has always claimed that Autorun was safe, however not it admits that the amount of malware spreading through this feature has shot up. However Microsoft is still worried that disabling Autorun would make Windows too hard for non-technical users to operate. But that is not stopping it disabling Autorun in Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP soon.