How to Set Your Auto-Play Options
Thanks to the multi-media capabilities of modern computers, many people are
using PCs as their home entertainment center. Computers can play every type of
digital media from audio CDs to DVD movies, and the computer can be connected to
your television and sound system for great audio and video entertainment.
In addition, computers can be networked through the house, so that content on
one computer can be played on another. A network allows you to divide resources
between various computers, having say, a DVD burner that can be accessed from
any computer in the house.
If you find that your computer is taking over more of the entertainment tasks of
your household, you probably want to customize it to suit your individual
tastes. The flexibility of computers is one of their great strengths, so you can
usually configure any software to play different media.
A true multimedia device should be able to examine the type of media that is
inserted into the CD or DVD player. It should automatically launch the proper
player so that you don’t have to fiddle with menus or make any adjustments other
than volume. Fortunately, Windows based computers have options that allow you to
set the auto-play functions so that you can insert a disk or other removable
media and sit back and enjoy.
The Windows Media Player that comes packaged with the Windows operating system
is adequate for most media playback, but it has some limitations. You may prefer
individual players depending on whether you are listening to music, watching
DVD’s or streaming a video from another computer in the house.
To customize the auto-play features on your computer, double click on the “My
Computer” icon on your desktop. Right-click on the CD or DVD player and select
“Properties”. Click on the “Auto Play” tab and you can select options for each
of the various media types including Music files, Pictures, and Video files.
If your preferred media player is not on the list, select “Prompt me each time
to choose an action”. This gives you the option of choosing your player when you
insert a disk into the CD or DVD player.
After selecting the options for each media type, try it out by putting various
types of disk into your computer’s CD or DVD player. If you have chosen the
“Prompt” option, you can browse your computer to find your preferred player and
then click on “Always use this program” to keep your settings.
That’s all there is to it! Your computer will automatically launch your
preferred media player every time you insert a new disk.
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