Attention all fans of Stump the PC Club: I’ve added a feature to have this column e-mailed to your computer weekly. The e-mail is easy to read and print out! Sign up HERE.

Also, we need more questions! E-mail us at thegadgetress@ocregister.com and please include “Help Me” in the subject line and please include your computer’s operating system and amount of memory.

And one last thing: The PC Club meets this Sunday, June 1, at Chapman College. Visit the club’s site for more details.

Now, back to this week’s question:

Question: I have a Dell tower computer, Canon scanner and printer. I bought a Western Digital MyBook 320-GB backup hard drive a year ago, and it has worked flawlessly. However, a few months ago (being a bit paranoid) I decided to keep its USB cable unplugged until I want to backup some files. My problem is each time I plug in the backup’s USB cable, my scanner is activated. This is not only annoying, it can also interfere with the backup process.

NOCCC: What I consider the abuse of the Windows Autoplay feature is the source of your annoyance.

A quote from MSDN Magazine: “The typical user scenario is this: a CD is inserted into the CD drive, the setup program runs automatically, and the user simply follows the on-screen instructions generated by the setup software. Without this mechanism, the user needs to find and open the My Computer folder, find the CD drive, double-click the icon, find the right program to run, and launch it. For novice users, all of these steps are far from obvious and can contribute to the perceived complexity of the PC.”

The above quote applied to Autoplay version one. Version two of Autoplay was expanded to include USB hard drives, flash drives, cameras, and other devices.

Normally, when you insert a device into the computer, Windows starts checking to see what type of files are on the device. It then opens up a window with a list of available programs already on your computer that can open the file found. You can then choose the program you want or pick ‘none of the above’ or ‘cancel.’

Nice programs simply add their name to that list when they are installed.

Then there are the programs with an ego problem. They think they are so good that you don’t need any other choices. They forcefully activate their program. Some do give you a choice when you first install the program. At that time, you would select “Custom installation” (always the best choice in my opinion) instead of “Express installation.” Click image below for a larger look.

Another tip: The only piece of software that you had to install for the Canon scanner to function was the TWAIN driver. That allows programs, such as Microsoft Word, to use the scanner. Just clicking on Express install was easy. Fixing your annoyance is a little more complicated. For more Autoplay details go to this site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc144212(VS.85).aspx

The simplest fix is to hold down the shift key when you plug in your backup USB drive. Continue holding the key until the computer is finished recognizing the new hardware. If you don’t actually use the Canon software that annoys you, use “Add or Remove Programs” in Control Panel to uninstall the program. But this fix doesn’t always work.

Another fix that can sometimes be used to stop a program from starting when you boot up the computer is MSCONFIG (from the “Start” button, select “Run” and type “msconfig” in the space, hit “OK,” select the “Startup” tab to disable the software from launching every time you start the computer). But it can be confusing to use.

Less confusing is Windows Defender, a free download from Microsoft that is a pretty good anti-spyware program. It provides a number of other useful features. One is the “Software Explorer” function under the Tools menu. This shows a list of most of the programs running in the background on your computer (see image below), along with a detailed description and the ability to enable or disable listed items. Alternately, find a computer guru that can go into the XP registry and edit out the offending Autoplay permission.

~Jim Sanders, Vice President, NOCCC

Related questions:

• How to open files in preferred programs
• Don’t forget to visit the Stump archives

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