I have a Packard Bell Pentium Force 133T, and the AutoPlay has never worked. (ie. it is supposed to automatically run as soon the CD is inserted) When I put a CD in I have to start it from ‘Run’ (in the Start menu) or the Control Panel, in Q: drive. I have set up a Q: drive shortcut icon that helps but this does not solve the basic problem. Is this a software or hardware problem, and can I fix it?

There is a free program available from Microsoft over the internet called TweakUI. This allows you to change (tweak) many ‘behind the scenes’ settings in Windows including the AutoPlay facility. You can obtain this program for Windows 95 from: www.microsoft.com/Windows/Downloads/Contents/WUToys/NTTweakUI/Default.asp
Or for Windows 98: windowsupdate.microsoft.com. Once you have installed the program as per the instructions go to the Control Panel and open ‘TweakUI’. Click the ‘Paranoia’ tab and under that you should see a section titled ‘Things that happen behind your back’. Place a check in the two boxes beside ‘Play audio CD’s automatically’ and ‘Play data CD’s automatically’ followed by clicking the ‘Ok’ button. Reboot your computer and now CD’s that are designed to be run automatically should be able to.