Tips on Using Your CD-ROM in Windows 95/98 Usage All Staff
AutoPlay Away
The AutoPlay feature of Windows 95 allows CDs to automatically start up when inserted in the drive, or for audio CDs to start playing. If for any reason you want to disable this feature, you can find it in the properties for your CD-ROM drive under Control Panel/System/Device Manager. Click on the Settings tab and uncheck the box that reads, Auto Insert Notification, turned on by default. After restarting your computer, CDs will no longer start up automatically.
Bring Your Own
Before you upgraded to Win95, you may have been using a CD player that you like better, and you have already entered the track names for your entire CD collection. In that case, you can have your application, rather than the built-in applet, launch when you insert a music CD. While inside any file or Explorer window, go to the View menu and select the Options command. Click the File Types tab, find AudioCD in the list of registered file types and click the Edit button. Double-click on Play in the list of actions, and under the header Application Used to Perform Action, replace Cdplayer with the full path and filename of your favorite CD application.
But I Don't Wanna Run It!
Windows 95 does its best to figure out what to do with CD-ROMs you load. If you insert a music CD, for example, Win95 will automatically assume you want to play it. It will launch the CD applet and start playing the first track. Many data CDs now come with opening screens that likewise will auto-run under Win95. But sometimes you don't want the noise and distraction, or you don't want anything to happen until you're ready. To defeat Win95's autorun feature, hold down the left Shift key when you insert a new CD. When the CD-ROM drive light flashes, you can let go of the key and go about your business normally.
Music CDs and Autoplay
By default, Windows 95 is set up to automatically start the CD Player applet and begin playing a music cd as soon as it is inserted into the CD-ROM drive. This is set up in Windows 95 much like a file extension association. To change this, start Explorer, and select View/Options/File Type. Scroll through the list until you find a listing for Audio CDs. Highlight it, and select the Edit button. You'll see a panel showing the option 'play'. Select that, then click on the Edit button on this panel. You'll see the command that is invoked for that option. It is by default set to execute CDPLAYER.EXE with a command parm of '/play'. If you delete the entire line, then when an audio cd is inserted, nothing will happen. If you delete just the '/play' parm, then when an audio cd is inserted, the CD Player applet is started, but it does NOT immediately begin playing the cd.
Windows 95 allows you to do some strange things with audio CDs
Try some of the following: (1) Go into Explorer and click on your CD drive with an audio CD in it. (2) In the right panel you will see Track01.cda through Track??.cda. (3) If you right-click on a track, you can play it automatically by choosing Play from the Quick Menu. (4) If you double-click on a track, it will play automatically. (5) Try dragging a track onto your desktop (you can copy it or create a shortcut, it doesn't matter). Rename the track's copy/shortcut to the song's real name. Whenever you have that CD in the drive, you can now double-click on it on the desktop to play it. (6) You can also drag tracks to your hard drive and put them in your Start Menu, or create a directory with CD tracks in it.
