[quote="Microsoft"]
What's the difference between AutoPlay and autorun?
AutoPlay
AutoPlay is a Windows feature that lets you choose which program to use to start different kinds of media, such as music CDs, or CDs or DVDs containing photos. For example, the first time you try to play a music CD, AutoPlay asks which media player you want to use, if you have more than one installed on your computer. You can change AutoPlay settings for each media type.
Autorun
Autorun is a technology used to start some programs or enhanced content (such as video content on a music CD) automatically when you insert a CD or another media type into your computer. This is different from AutoPlay, but the result is often the same: when inserted, the CD starts automatically, using a particular program. Autorun is incorporated into the media types that use it, and you can't modify it.
When you try to play a CD or another media type that uses autorun, AutoPlay asks you to choose an action to perform (for example, to play the autorun content or to skip it).[/quote]
NOTE: This rest of this post relates mainly to Windows XP, though a few parts may apply to Vista.
I used TweakUI to disable AutoPlay on all my removable drives in Windows XP (which is the most annoying software feature ever conceived). Unfortunately, this will disable all notifications that new media has been inserted or that inserted media has been ejected.
There is a much more tedious way to configure a sort of "happy medium" state, but get a six pack of beer ready to implement it.[ol] [li] If you use virtual CD drive software such as Nero InCD or Daemon Tools, enabled all of your virtual drives.
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[li] Enable AutoPlay on all your removable drive letters (including the virtual ones), using use TweakUI.
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[li] Open a lister to My Computer, in details mode.
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[li] If the Type field is not displayed, add it by right-clicking the column headers and selecting it. Sort by this field.
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[li] For each drive with removable storage, do the following:[ol][li] Right-click the drive icon.[/li]
[li] Select Properties from the context menu.[/li]
[li] Select the AutoPlay tab from the Properties dialog. This reveals a pull-down with various types of content files: Music, Pictures, Video, Mixed Content, Music CD, DVD Movie.[/li]
[li] Do the following for each type of file content:[ol][li] Select the Content Type in the Pull-down.[/li]
[li] Check the Select an action to perform radio button.[/li]
[li] Select Take No Action.[/li]
[li] After you change that file content type to Take No Action, you must click the Apply button, before changing the pull-down to the next file content type![/li]
[li] Repeat for the next file content type.[/li][/ol][/li][li] Once all file content types have been set to Take No Action, click the OK button to close the Properties dialog.[/li][li] Repeat for the next drive with removable storage.[/li][/ol][/li][/ol]