Launch CD-ROMs quickly, swap your soundtracks


Tip
Windows 95 introduced important enhancements for multimedia, not the least of which is the ability to play CD-ROMs and audio CDs automatically when you pop them in the CD-ROM drive. This AutoPlay is a godsend if you have kids who like CD-ROM-based games.
If AutoPlay doesn?t work, first see if ?Auto insert notification? in the CD-ROM Settings sheet in Win95?s Device Manager is unchecked. But not every CD-ROM plays automatically. It won?t if the program lacks a file called autorun.inf, which tells Windows which program to run.
Fortunately, one of Microsoft?s nifty-but-unsupported PowerToys utilities brings AutoPlay-like behavior to CD-ROMs that otherwise won?t start up automatically. Autoplay Extender is a memory-resident program that watches your CD-ROM drive for new discs. When it encounters one that lacks autorun.inf in the root directory, it pops up a window that lists Shortcuts to the CD?s programs.
Annoyingly, though, you must create these links, and the utility won?t launch a default application automatically.
You can find CD AutoPlay Extender on Microsoft?s PowerToys page ((http:// www.microsoft.com/windows/software/powertoy.htm). Create a folder called AutoPlay on your Windows desktop and download the self-extracting archive file aplay.exe to that folder. Open the AutoPlay folder, double-click the file aplay.exe, then right-click aplayext.inf and select Install from the menu.
You?ll probably get an error message telling you to insert an AutoPlay disc. Just click OK to clear the error box, then in the next box, browse to the AutoPlay folder and click OK twice to complete the installation. After you restart your PC, inserting a non-AutoPlay-enabled CD-ROM will trigger the AutoPlay Extender interface.
Click the Add/Remove button to copy one or more Shortcuts to programs on the CD into the AutoPlay Extender dialogue box. Next time you insert the CD, the same box will pop up. To run a program, double-click its Shortcut, or click Run or press <Enter> to launch the program at the top of the list.
- Scott Spanbauer

Category: Win95
Issue: Nov 1996
Pages: 182

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