How to Disable AutoPlay in Windows



By Anand Khanse for The Windows Club

How to Disable AutoPlay in Windows

Don’t want your media content to start automatically when you insert the media into your PC? Learn how to disable the AutoPlay function in Windows.–PC Pitstop.

In this post we will see how to disable AutoPlay in Windows 8 using the Control Panel, Group Policy or the Registry Editor. But before that, let us see what is AutoPlay and AutoRun in Windows. Then we will see how to enable or disable AutoPlay or AutoRun in Windows 8.

Difference between AutoPlay & AutorunAutorun is used to start some programs or enhanced media content automatically when you insert a CD, DVD or another media type into your computer. This is different from AutoPlay, but the result is often the same: when inserted, the CD starts automatically, using a particular program.

AutoPlay lets you choose which program to use to start different kinds of media, such as DVD, CD, etc, containing music, video, photo, etc. For example, the first time you try to play a music CD, AutoPlay will ask you which media player you want to use, if you have more than one installed on your computer. You can read more here about AutoPlay in Windows 8 | 7. Autorun is incorporated into the media types that use it, and you can’t modify it. When you try to play a CD that uses autorun, AutoPlay asks you to choose an action to perform -to play the autorun content or to skip it. AutoPlay lets you choose an action, and it is in a way, the successor to AutoRun.

In order to help prevent malware from spreading using the AutoRun mechanism, Microsoft made an important change, starting with Windows 7. AutoPlay no longer supports the AutoRun functionality for non-optical removable media. In other words, AutoPlay still works for CD/DVDs but not for work for USB drives.


AutoPlay in Windows 8

When you connect devices to your Windows 7 | 8 computer, the AutoPlay feature starts running automatically and begins playing media such as music, images and videos. For example, the first time you try to play a music CD, AutoPlay asks which media player you want to use, if you have more than one installed on your computer. Although good, some of you may want to disable the feature.

Steps to Disable AutoPlay in Windows 8 – Article Continued Here

Shared with permission from The Windows Club.

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