I've just got a new work computer and have been shifted to Windows XP after years of happy Win2k use. The autorun thing shits me to tears - what a waste of time, reading an entire CD and then asking me what to do with it...just in general. Gahh!

Thankfully you can disable it!

Method one:

1. Download and install Tweak UI via the Powertoys page
2. Run Tweak UI
3. My Computer → Autoplay → Types
4. Deselect all drive types in the 'autoplay drive types' box.
5. Apply, and you're done.

Method two:

1. Start → Run
2. gpedit.msc [enter]
3. Computer Configuration → Administrative Templates → System
4. Double-click the item "Turn off autoplay"
5. Select "Enable"
6. Select which drives from the dropdown, I went for "all drives" since I don't want it to search the entirety of our office's 20gig external hard drive whenever I use it.
7. Click OK

Done! Windows preference handling really needs some work. It still can't handle font sizes in any sensible manner, nor does it display unicode characters out of the box.

Labels: windows xp

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