Whenever you plug in a flash drive, CD, or other external media device into a computer running Windows XP or Vista, an autorun window will pop up asking if you'd like to explore the contents, play any media files, or take other action. When you plug removable media into a Linux system, an icon simply pops up on your desktop. Desk Drive is a free utility that lets you add this feature to Windows.

Once you install Desk Drive, all you have to do is make sure it's running by looking for a little networked folder icon in your system tray. Now whenever you plug in a removable flash drive, CD ROM or other media an icon should show up on your desktop. You can customize Desk Drive by right-clicking on the icon in the system tray and telling the software to ignore certain drives or enable certain types of media.

You might also want to disable the Windows autorun dialog.