Enable or Disable Windows Autorun / Autoplay feature?

Infopackets Reader Amy O. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I recently installed Roxio Easy CD Creator (ECD) 5 Platinum on my PC. Ever since then, my CD Autorun feature would not work. I later decided to uninstall ECD5 in order to restore the Autorun feature, but my CD ROM still refuses to Autorun a disc whenever I put it in the drive.

Do you have any suggestions to get my Autorun to work? "

My response:

Autorun won't work unless a feature called Auto Insert Notification and/or AutoPlay is turned on.

Auto Insert Notification works by periodically polling a CD ROM drive for the purpose of reading the title and table of contents on the disc. Unfortunately, Autorun can interfere with the CD burning process, which is why many CD burning applications (such as Easy CD Creator) disable the feature altogether.

AutoPlay is another aspect of AutoRun, which can be used to "fine tune" how different types of CDs launch when inserted into the drive. I do not believe the AutoPlay feature is available in Windows 95 or 98.

I managed to dig up a link that details how to enable / disable Autorun and AutoPlay:

http://www.base40.com/cdtTipAutoRun.htm

Another very easy way to enable AutoRun is to use a utility called TweakUI (Powertoys) from Microsoft.

To download TweakUI for Windows 2000, NT and XP:

http://www.infopackets.com/articles/powertoys_xp.htm

Side note: When I used PowerToys on my Windows XP system, I found the Autorun feature located under My Computer -> Drives -> AutoPlay.

You can also download PowerToys for Win9x/ME:

http://www.infopackets.com/articles/powertoys.htm