Readers Questions.
IF01719
Q.
I just upgraded to
Windows Vista and I'm having trouble figuring out how the CD AutoRun feature works. Can you help me with this, please?
A. After getting this
question several times from my readers I figured it must be a common problem
among new Vista users.
To begin,
I want to make sure everyone knows what AutoRun means. This term comes into play
whenever you insert a
CD into the CD ROM drive on your computer (or a
DVD into a
DVD ROM drive, etc). The AutoRun feature gives you, the user, the ability to
take action as to what you want that CD to do once it's in your computer. There
are different options you can choose from when it comes to setting up the
AutoRun how you want it as well. And that's exactly what I'm going to explain
for all you
Vista users right now.
When you
insert a CD into your Vista computer, an AutoPlay dialogue box will pop right
up. From that window, you can choose from these options: "Run start.exe,"
"Open folder to view files" or "Set AutoPlay defaults in
Control Panel."
If you put in a music CD, you will have the option of just playing it or ripping
it too. The choices will be a little different, depending on the type of CD you
put in. Whether it's an audio CD, a piece of software, a game, etc., the options
will be different, but everything else is pretty similar, no matter what.
So, you
can choose what you want to do, but I would recommend clicking on the link that
says "Set AutoPlay defaults in
Control Panel." This one is going to give
you the most control over what your computer does when you're using CDs. Once
that box comes up, you'll see a long list of different disk types. There's
everything from audio CDs to enhanced audio CDs to DVD movies to enhanced DVD
movies to software and games to pictures to video files to audio files and so on
and so on.
For each
disk type, there is a drop down menu next to it. When you click on the down
arrow for each menu, you will see an array of options. Below are two examples of
this.
1.
Audio CD: Your main options for this are Play, Rip, Open
folder to view files using
Windows Explorer, Take no action or Ask
me every time. Now, if you like your music CDs to start right up whenever
you put one in your CD ROM drive, choose Play. This option will then
detect what media program you have installed on your computer (Windows Media
Player, for example) and the CD will automatically play in that program every
time you put one in.
On the
other hand, if you would like to choose which action to take each time, choose
Ask me every time. This way, you'll have the choice every time you go to
play a CD on your computer. The choice is yours, but do try to pick the option
that will make things the easiest for you.
2.
Software and games: For this one, your main options are Install or run
program, Open folder to view files using
Windows Explorer, Take no
action or Ask me every time. If you choose the first option, every
time you go to install a new piece of software on your computer, it will
automatically run the install for you. If you'd like to make a new decision
every time, choose Ask me every time. Again, the choice is always yours.
Once
you've gone through the whole list of disk types and made your selections, click
the Save button at the bottom of the window. That will save all of your
settings and they will be ready for the next time you play a music CD, install a
new program, play a new game, etc. Now, if you want to change your settings at
any time, you can also access the AutoPlay window by going to Start,
Control Panel, Hardware and Sound, AutoPlay. Hope this has
helped.
Let me know if you need anything else.
Did this Article Give you the
Information You Were Looking For?
If you found this information useful,
please
