autoplay posts

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware, Open Source

How to display a Windows desktop icon when you plug in a flash drive

by Brad Linder Jul 10th 2008

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.

Tags: autoplay, autorun, desk-drive

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Freeware

Fix or remove Windows AutoPlay with CleanHandlers

by Brad Linder Feb 27th 2008

When you pop a CD or DVD or flash drive into your PC, odds are Windows brings up the AutoPlay menu asking if you'd like to burn a disc, watch a movie, or perform some other action. Or depending on your selections in the past, Windows may just automatically launch a program. But what if it wants to launch a program that you've since uninstalled?

CleanHandler is a utility that helps you remove or fix entries from the AutoPlay menu. There's no option for adding new programs to the AutoPlay menu. If your media player of choice doesn't support AutoPlay, there's not much CleanHandler can do. But it can clean up bad registry entries.

[via XFuture Blog

Tags: autoplay, cleanhandlers, registry

Filed under: Security, Utilities, Hardware

Have your lost USB drive ask for help

by Jordan Running Oct 30th 2006

With USB drives getting larger in capacity but smaller in size every day, the space on which you can scrawl your "If found..." contact info is becoming more and more limited. The solution? Make your USB drive identify itself and ask to be sent home if someone finds it and plugs it in to their computer. The Daily Cup of Tech has a tutorial and a little program for making a box with your contact information (or anything else you might want to tell your USB drive's would-be finder) pop up when it's inserted into a computer. Unless you're a programmer, you'll want to scroll down to the bottom where you can download a pre-compiled version of the program. Of course, this will only work if a) the receiving computer runs Windows, and b) AutoPlay isn't disabled on it, but this is a pretty cool technique that just might get your precious USB drive returned to you the next time you misplace it.

[Via Street Tech]

Tags: autoplay, flash drive, FlashDrive, lost, recover, return, thumb drive, ThumbDrive, usb drive, UsbDrive

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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