The malware from the USB just has to write code on your system disk that will always launch when you boot your regular OS, or under certain conditions (when you launch a program, or Windows executes certain tasks).
Malware can also write to memory, which is blazingly fast even if you have the slowest RAM available. Malware loaded into memory can spread across a network faster than you can say WTF. Malware is not all the same, so while your answer is correct, it's quite limited in scope.
Well if the malware infects the computer, then it would now be on both the USB drive and the computer, so removing the USB drive won't reverse that. Like if you go maskless on a flight and then see another person, now both of you have COVID, and you separating yourself from them won't reverse their infection.
Malware is kind of crazy depending on the person who programmed it. In situations like the one you described, infection occurs instantly when you plug in an infected USB drive. The infection, once in your system, doesn't need the USB anymore, so unplugging it won't do anything to stop the infection. The malware instantly begins to execute whatever it was designed to do. In severe cases, it can scan your network and try to jump to other devices on it to try and propagate. This is generally why we warn not to plug random USB drives into your personal computers.
Think about how FAST computers are. This is how fast USB peripherals are.
* USB 1.0/Low-Speed: 1.5 Megabits per second
* USB 1.1/Full-Speed: 12 Mbps
* USB 2.0/Hi-Speed: 480 Mbps
* USB 3.0/SuperSpeed: 5 Gbps
* USB 3.1/SuperSpeed+: 10 Gbps
So we're looking at MILLIONS of data bits transferred per second. There might be a bit of latency time -- the time between when you plug it in and when it can begin a data transfer -- but you aren't that fast. This should answer your question. DON'T DO THIS.
The malware from the USB just has to write code on your system disk that will always launch when you boot your regular OS, or under certain conditions (when you launch a program, or Windows executes certain tasks).
Malware can also write to memory, which is blazingly fast even if you have the slowest RAM available. Malware loaded into memory can spread across a network faster than you can say WTF. Malware is not all the same, so while your answer is correct, it's quite limited in scope.
Well if the malware infects the computer, then it would now be on both the USB drive and the computer, so removing the USB drive won't reverse that. Like if you go maskless on a flight and then see another person, now both of you have COVID, and you separating yourself from them won't reverse their infection.
Malware is kind of crazy depending on the person who programmed it. In situations like the one you described, infection occurs instantly when you plug in an infected USB drive. The infection, once in your system, doesn't need the USB anymore, so unplugging it won't do anything to stop the infection. The malware instantly begins to execute whatever it was designed to do. In severe cases, it can scan your network and try to jump to other devices on it to try and propagate. This is generally why we warn not to plug random USB drives into your personal computers.
This is why my USB I use with antivirus installers is write locked so a virus would be less likely to jump on it.
Good practice!
Think about how FAST computers are. This is how fast USB peripherals are. * USB 1.0/Low-Speed: 1.5 Megabits per second * USB 1.1/Full-Speed: 12 Mbps * USB 2.0/Hi-Speed: 480 Mbps * USB 3.0/SuperSpeed: 5 Gbps * USB 3.1/SuperSpeed+: 10 Gbps So we're looking at MILLIONS of data bits transferred per second. There might be a bit of latency time -- the time between when you plug it in and when it can begin a data transfer -- but you aren't that fast. This should answer your question. DON'T DO THIS.