On Sun, 08 Mar 2015 12:15:16 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)" 
wrote:

>Suppose I am at a trade show and some Nice Person is handing out free
>USB sticks.
>
>How do I make one of these things "Safe" ?

 You can't. The malware might be an NSA-designed firmware
exploit, which is triggered by plugging the drive in. I believe these
exploits have been sold to the underworld, so it's possible you could
catch it anywhere.

>i.e. how to format it and remove whatever nastyware it might be
>carrying.

 Linux. Check it does not have any hidden partitions with
cfdisk, then make a filesystem on it. Any filesystem, even ext2. You
can always re-format later in Windows.
>
>Off-the-shelf antivirus apps?

 Won't catch zero-day exploits

 Make sure you don't have autorun enabled for any drive on your
PC (not even CD and DVD drives).
>
 []'s
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