If a dialog box comes up telling you what folder it's searching for content, that's autoplay, not autorun. (This happens whenever I put in a data DVD I burned.) Were it just autorun, it would'nt do any searching, but just try to open D:autorun.inf, get a "not found" and give up. Autorun does a lot of bad stuff, but it doesn't scan through a drive's entire contents.
Autoplay, however, activates when Autorun fails to find its file. It searches the whole disk for picture, video and music files so it can offer to playe them for you. It will also detect audio CDs and play them through WiMP (though not if Autorun gets in there and installs a DRM thingie first), along with DVDs and blank media. Programs can install new actions that can be taken when the following are encountered: pictures, music files, videos, "mixed content" (one or more of the above), music CD, DVD movie and blank CD. The user can set a default action from the drive properties box (in My Computer) so that it will take the action automatically without asking. You can disable autoplay on a per-drive-letter basis through TweakUI XP.
To sum it up: Autorun will open a menu or program unique to a CD, if defined in autorun.inf. Autoplay scans an entire disc for playable content if Autorun fails to find its INF file.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joe McKenzie @ Dec 19th 2005 2:26AM
If a dialog box comes up telling you what folder it's searching for content, that's autoplay, not autorun. (This happens whenever I put in a data DVD I burned.) Were it just autorun, it would'nt do any searching, but just try to open D:autorun.inf, get a "not found" and give up. Autorun does a lot of bad stuff, but it doesn't scan through a drive's entire contents.
Autoplay, however, activates when Autorun fails to find its file. It searches the whole disk for picture, video and music files so it can offer to playe them for you. It will also detect audio CDs and play them through WiMP (though not if Autorun gets in there and installs a DRM thingie first), along with DVDs and blank media. Programs can install new actions that can be taken when the following are encountered: pictures, music files, videos, "mixed content" (one or more of the above), music CD, DVD movie and blank CD. The user can set a default action from the drive properties box (in My Computer) so that it will take the action automatically without asking. You can disable autoplay on a per-drive-letter basis through TweakUI XP.
To sum it up: Autorun will open a menu or program unique to a CD, if defined in autorun.inf. Autoplay scans an entire disc for playable content if Autorun fails to find its INF file.