Windows Vista

1. Go to the start menu, choose control panel.
2. Find the Autoplay icon. Double click on it.
3. Choose your action for each process by pressing the drop down arrow to choose form the list.

Windows XP

1. Go to the start menu, choose my computer.
2. Find your cd rom icon.
3. Right click on it and choose properties from the menu.
4. The CD drive properties will appear.
5. Go to the Autoplay tab.
6. Press the drop down arrow to see your choices. Music files, Pictures, Video Files, Mixed content, and Music CD. See circled arrow below.
7. This is where you can change what happens when you insert a cd.

If you choose pictures from the list, the actions will change to things you can do with pictures. You can choose to print pictures from a cd, extract them to a folder, view a slide show, and so on. If you choose music you can choose to play the music, open the folder to view files, or take no action at all. After you have set your options press apply and then ok. See the screenshots below for more details. Windows XP CD auto play options are very different to Windows Vista.

When my computer appears you will see all drives on your computer. Some compact discs will show a unique icon so you can tell where they are, however a data cd will look similar to an empty cd drive. The only difference may be a name, however in this case there is a string of grey text saying how much free space is on the drive. The drive with nothing in it has no grey text as it is empty.

Simply double click (click the left mouse button twice) on the cd drive you want to open to see the contents. The same applies for both Windows XP and Windows Vista.

If you have a computer you will need to know how to open a compact disc to view contents of a disc. Maybe someone might give you a photo cd or a cd with files on it. Or maybe you will want to install a program from a compact disc.